GREEN BAY, Wis. — Every play is an audible for Brock Trachsel as he quarterbacks a group of kids playing touch football in front of Lambeau Field.
The Altoona resident and the others were waiting for the start of a Green Bay Packers training camp practice on Monday.
“I’m a fifth-generation Packer-backer. I couldn’t eat at the table if I watched a different team,” he said. “It’s very important my kids experience it. I have nieces and nephews as little as two all the way through 16 and they’re all here.”
Over the past two decades the stadium has transformed from a sporting venue to one used for functions ranging from graduations and weddings to football, concerts and soccer matches.
“Lambeau Field when I first started coming here looked more like a pole shed. Green siding going up and down vertically,” Trachsel said. “Now you have all these beautiful brick buildings and the expansion at Titletown and everything that’s going on in the city. It’s a really nice area now.”
Twenty years ago, Lambeau Field and the surrounding areas started undergoing a massive transformation. It kicked off with a $295 million renovation of the stadium.
It’s expanded to include the Titletown complex, an office building and apartments.
Green Bay resident Jillian Amezquita said the growth that has put the city and region on the map.
“It’s very cool to see small Green Bay becoming bigger, attracting more people and proving Wisconsin and Green Bay is a destination for players, families and for people to come visit,” she said.
Amezquita was at Training Camp Monday with her son, Liam.
“My dad grew up in the area down the road from Lambeau and he use to do this as a kid,” she said. “It’s pretty cool to know we have generations who have participated in this.”
Trachsel said the Packers culture transcends hundreds of millions of dollars of changes and investments.
“It’s a whole experience and everybody that comes here is feeling the same thing,” he said. “You even see the Viking fans show up here with their jerseys on and other teams who are here just to experience everything that’s going on on the hallowed ground of Green Bay Lambeau Field.”
