Lifeless Lambeau a shocking experience

 

Over the course of the past couple years, I’ve had the opportunity to watch, cover and shoot photos of some highly entertaining Green Bay Packers regular season games at Lambeau Field. The most recent time I stepped inside the historic venue during the 2019-20 season was for the team’s playoff battle with the Seattle Seahawks.

I also was in attendance for Sunday’s home-opening win over the Detroit Lions, and as you might expect, it was an extremely different experience.

I started noticing the changes just a few minutes into my drive toward Green Bay. I left about half an hour later than I had for past regular season games, and I dealt with very little traffic on Highway 29. Instead of having to come to a complete stop about a half mile from the stadium due to other fans, I had little trouble driving around the stadium and into the designated media parking lot.

Instead of opening the door to my vehicle and hearing loud music and people conversing in every direction, it was like someone had hit the mute button on the TV remote. The usually packed parking lots were like a wasteland, and I couldn’t find a crowd of people tailgating anywhere. The smells of grills, beer and other pregame dishes that always made my mouth water were absent.

My typical walk into the stadium is done navigating around cars and groups of people, but Sunday, I was able to take a straight line to the media will call window — masked, of course.

Like the rest of the media members that attended the game, I then walked over to the health screening tent, where I had to answer several questions before getting my temperature taken. After getting the green light, I proceeded into the stadium.

I think I could count the number of people I encountered with both hands as I worked my way to the press box. Usually, I pass hundreds of people, including Packers game day staff, cheerleaders, media members and even some current and past players.

By the time I sit down in the press box, the stadium bowl is usually well over half full. To not see a single fan in the stands as the two teams warmed up on the field was absolutely mindboggling.

There was chatter from other media members, something I honestly can’t remember in the past, because typically the PA system and buzz of the crowd drowns everything else out. Kickoff sneaked up on me, probably because I was so used to seeing the stadium bowl fill up.

I watched several NFL games in the first week of the season and a number of other sports that used pumped-in crowd noise with no fans in attendance, so I didn’t expect to be that shocked when the game started. Boy, was I wrong!

I haven’t had the chance to watch many highlights or any parts of the game back, but I didn’t notice any crowd noise during the game. With the media members focused on the game, chatting was sparse. It was an eerie quietness, and something that I won’t ever forget.

Of course, the Packers offense turned in another big day, but to not have adoring fans going crazy after every big play, it almost felt like it shouldn’t have counted.

Of course, the win still counts just as much as any other the team’s accumulated over its long history. It’s still football, but it’s just not the same experience as in the past. I have a feeling players will have a much greater appreciation for the fans moving forward, if they don’t already.

Here’s to hoping fans can attend games later this season or, at the latest, to start the 2021 season.

Morgan Rode is the sports editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at sports@newmedia-wi.com.