ASHWAUBENON, Wis. — Thomas Arnot is a hands-on managing partner for three hotels near Lambeau Field.
Just days away from the opening of the Hampton Inn by Hilton Green Bay Stadium near the stadium, he was helping get the landscaping done.
All will be busy later this week with people booking rooms following the release of the NFL schedule Thursday night.
“Each one of the hotels will staff up the phone lines and the minute the schedule comes out, people are calling. We’ll have three or four people at every hotel taking reservations,” Arnot said. “That first few days is critical. People want to book the dates that they want and they want to be within walking distance of the stadium.”
A change the league is considering could flex some late seasons games from Sunday to Thursday. It’s an idea raising eyebrows in Titletown.
“One problem with this flex program is that it doesn’t work in a community like ours. We deal with it, but people can’t plan with the flex schedule. A random all-of-a-sudden pop-up change from a Sunday to a Thursday. It’s difficult operationally for us,” Arnot said.
The goal of the flex is to help Thursday night Amazon broadcasts with more compelling matchups. Notification of changing games would be made 15 days in advance.
Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy discussed the flex proposal in April.
“I think, particularly with our fan base and the way people travel to Lambeau Field, flexing that Thursday night game could be a real issue for our fans,” he said.
The matter could come up again at the league meeting later this month.
“It’s a priority of the league,” Murphy said about Thursday games. “Kind of the future is streaming and they want Amazon to be successful. But I think we have to be careful how we treat our fans in the stands.”
Nick Meisner of Discover Green Bay said if approved, they’ll watch and see how the plan affects the season and adjust to help travelers in the future. He said he knows many of the people coming to games have plans set well before game day.
“Fans have never had to prepare for this before. It was always more locked in,” he said. “We’ll be taking feedback from the visitors to our region and using this year as a learning opportunity to figure out how Discover Green Bay to help those fans in that planning process.”
Faced with a new quarterback and the uncertainty of this flex proposal, Arnot said he’s optimistic for what’s ahead this season.
“Some people are speculating the plus and minus of the loss of Aaron Rodgers and what that’s going to do to ticket sales or attendance. I’m 71 years old and the Packers have sold out every year of my lifetime and we’re not too worried,” he said. “We’re going to have a strong team and the fans are going to support the team and we’ll do just fine.”
That optimism includes opening a new hotel next week.
