GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers will play nine home games at Lambeau Field in 2024, one more than their usual eight-game home schedule, and it has area businesses preparing for increased business.
Julia Bernard is a manager at Croll’s in Green Bay and has worked at the restaurant for more than 23 years, and she said game day preparation takes a lot of work.
“The best thing about game day is you don’t have to worry about how much meat you put in, you just count it as you put it in the pan,” Bernard says. “I’d say we need at least 600 burgers alone for this game, and at least 250 sausages.”
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Bernard said game day is her favorite day of the year, which is one of the reasons she’s happy about the addition of home games.
“It just means we have to order more and buy extra soda for another week,” Bernard said. “Our job isn’t going to change that much even though there are more games.”
Lydia Andersen, content manager for Discover Green Bay, said the typical tourist who comes to town to watch a Packers game spends an average of two nights in the area.
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“There’s an estimated $15 million impact to Brown County for each home game,” Andersen said. “This has a huge impact not only on the stadium and surrounding businesses, but on everything in Green Bay – restaurants, golf courses, casinos, attractions, Bay Beach.”
(SpectrumNews1/Geno Perez)
“We don’t want people to be grumpy, we don’t want food to take too long to come out, so we’ve got a hopper outside,” Bernard says. “To try and make it a little less crowded inside. We’ve got tables and chairs outside and a band playing. So I think our main goal is to get people fed as quickly as possible and make sure everyone has a good time.”
