By Tori Wittenbrock
Associate Sports Editor
GREEN BAY – Though the Green Bay Packers have a long-standing reputation for being the oldest team in the NFL, their stadium is close to holding a similar status.
New City Stadium
Lambeau Field has hosted the Packers’ home football games for over 55 years and has seen the team take home seven of their 13 NFL Championship titles.
After the transition was made from Old City Stadium to New City Stadium — present day Lambeau Field — the new stadium first opened in 1957 became the official home of the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers had struggled for some time to secure a stable home field for the team and the 1957 dedication of the stadium was nothing short of extravagant, encompassing parades, fireworks, a farewell ceremony at Old City Stadium, a dedication game against the Chicago Bears and a ‘Venetian Nights’ celebration with boats on the Fox River that lasted from Sept. 28 to Sept. 29, 1957.
All dedication activities were funded through the sale of Packer Backer badges and buttons for $1 each and even 1957’s Miss America was present at the events.
New City Stadium officially became the first stadium ever built for Pro Football and the dedication became known at the time as the greatest celebration in the history of Green Bay, even surpassing the city’s tercentennial in 1934 as the oldest city in the midwest.
Season ticket prices the year the stadium opened ranged from $2.25 for students to $14.25 with single game tickets ranging from $2.25 to $4.75.
Although it was renamed for Green Bay Packers Head Coach Curly Lambeau in 1965 to commemorate his death that same year, Lambeau Field is currently the second oldest current NFL stadium and the oldest stadium to be constructed specifically for an NFL team.
Trite and true rivalry
The only stadium to surpass Lambeau Field on the timeline is that of their long-time rival, the Chicago Bears — Soldier Field.
Soldier Field was originally constructed in 1924, hosting Chicago Bears games sporadically from 1927 until it became their official full-time stadium in 1971.
However, the Chicago Cardinals were the first to officially designate Soldier Field as their home stadium in 1959 until they relocated the franchise to St. Louis in 1960.
Though debatably the only thing to remain constant about Soldier Field has been the location and the stadium has been renovated numerous times — including in the year 2003 which was so drastic that it jeopardized the field’s National Historic Landmark title — Soldier Field is nonetheless the oldest present-day NFL Stadium.
More impressive titles
Yet another impressive aspect of Lambeau Field is that its 81,441 seat capacity surpasses all but one team for the in seating capacity, giving it the title of the second largest stadium in the NFL.
MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and New York Jets, has a seating capacity of 82,500, edging out Lambeau Field by a little over 1,000 seats.
Though AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, can accommodate up to 100,000 fans with standing room, the stadium only has a seating capacity of about 80,000.
The next closest stadium to Lambeau Field in terms of age comes after a gap well over a decade long — GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in 1972, hosting the Kansas City Chiefs.
Another unique aspect of Lambeau Field that no other NFL stadium can claim is that Lambeau Field is the only NFL stadium to be named after a person, rather than a corporation who has bought the naming rights to the stadium as a form of advertisement.
Although there was discussion of selling the naming rights to the field in the year 2000, the Packers remained adamant that the program’s founder be the namesake for their home field.
Though naming rights have been sold to the entrance gates, the stadium remains the only one in the NFL to be privately named.
Green Bay Packers CEO and President Mark Murphy famously announced in 2015 that he believed this would always be the case in Green Bay.
“We will not sell the rights to the stadium,” said Murphy. “We will not do that. It will always be Lambeau Field.”