Location Activity-Lambeau Field Tour

Crystal VandenAvond

Intro to Mass Communications

The Lambeau Field Tour (Location Activity)

"Take the Lambeau Field Tour-choose a piece of advertising and report on it."
Included in this should be: "Describe what you saw, and take a picture to support what you saw; reflect on two things that struck you as odd/unusual/interesting related to mass communications; and describe how the activity related to the history of that field and to at least one or more medium."

Taking the Lambeau Field Tour was absolutely amazing! I am a huge Green Bay Packer fan, and getting history about the Packers was just great.

Before I begin writing the specifics about this location activity, I thought I would let you in on a little about my Packer craziness!

I blame my dad for everything. Growing up, my dad sold beer in the stands of Lambeau. He recently retired, but he sold for 24 seasons. Of the 24 seasons, he missed only two games; which were for the suspected birth of my sister and I. Now that he has quit that, my sister and I overtook his section and sell beer in the stands at all of the home games. (Tip your beer vendor!) On the right, is a picture of my sis and I in the stands.

My dad redid their basement within the last couple of years. We have carpet, with blood stains, from the Packer locker room. My parent's whole basement is composed of Packer material, including photos from my dad's beer vending days, and photos from Super Bowl XXXI, which he attended. It also consists of many framed newspaper articles of th Packers.

Now all of this plays a huge impact of me liking the Green Bay Packers. Although I have been a Packers fan my whole life, I had never taken the Lambeau Tour until about a week ago.

At the beginning of the tour, we learned a brief history about Lambeau Field, and the coaches. Lambeau Field is named after one of the greatest all time coaches of the Green Bay Packers, Curly Lambeau. Now, before the Green Bay Packers were called the "Green Bay Packers," they were called the "Acme Packers." During that time, they were privately owned; now they are owned by the city, which is where they came up with "Green Bay" Packers.

Okay, here is a photo of my group and I inside of Lambeau Field. Lambeau is very big! It can hold over 72,000 people! Inside of Lambeau, I noticed a lot of their advertising relates to beer; specifically "Miller Lite." (Which is what I sell in the stands.) If you look above our heads, at the scoreboard, you can (barely) see on the left the advertisement for MGD.

Now, to think that every single person inside of the stadium sees, and are constantly looking at the scoreboard. Not everyone that goes to the game is legal to be drinking as it is. Most are of age, from my experience, but what about the younger people that are watching the game. This is quite odd to me. I would imagine that they would put something neutral, or positive up there. For instance, an advertisement for "Nike" cleats, or something that the Packers wear as part of the uniform. But, putting an advertisement for beer, is screaming to me "Everyone must drink beer and watch football." That is exactly how it is nowadays too. When I am not working the football game, I am watching it either at home or at a sports bar, with an MGD in my hand. (It's okay, I'm 21!) Am I drinking MGD because of the advertisements? I mean, I won't even drink a Miller Lite; it is specifically MGD.

Another thing that I thought was very interesting were the box seats. The view was absolutely amazing, but I can't understand for the life of me why someone would possibly want to sit up there! Sure, the rooms either have AC or heat, but isnt 3/4 of the fun being in the crowd and getting the true Lambeau experience? Does that mean that people tailgate in the boxes as well? That does not sound fun to me at all! Plus, sitting in the boxes costs thousands of thousands of dollars, and in some of the boxes they do not let you eat or drink!

To conclude, learning about the Green Bay Packers history on the tour was a great input on the tour itself. The advertising, I believe, is very influential to the people sitting in the stands and viewing the game on TV. Also, experiencing sitting in the box seats were a lot of fun, but I do not think that it is worth your money to sit there. If you are going to go to a Lambeau game, I would recommend very strongly to sit in the bowl!

For more information on Lambeau tours, check out http://www.lambeaufield.com/stadium_info/stadium_tours/