Packers Won’t Allow Fans at Training Camp, Preseason

Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy urges fans to follow safety protocols.

Bill Huber | Jul 15, 2020

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers announced on Wednesday that they will not allow fans to attend training camp practices, Family Night or home preseason games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The tremendous support of cheering fans at Lambeau Field motivates all of us in the Packers organization,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. “But after consulting with local health officials and reviewing league and CDC guidelines, we felt we needed to make this difficult decision. We will miss seeing so many of our fans, particularly the young ones, during this exciting time of year. We will continue to work on the protocols and logistics in the hope that we can welcome fans back to Lambeau Field for the regular season without jeopardizing the health of our players, team personnel and fans.”

It’s yet another change for the team, which broke from tradition by not basing its training camp at St. Norbert College in De Pere. Now, no fans at training camp means no player-kid bike rides.

The NFL and NFLPA are negotiating how to handle training camps, with the league desiring two preseason games and the NFLPA wanting none.

Last week, the league announced that fans would not be allowed to attend training camp but teams could hold two fan events at stadiums. That would have allowed the team to open the gates for Family Night. The Family Night practice will be held in Lambeau Field, anyway, but without the families. The date and time has not been announced, nor has the training camp schedule.

On July 3, the team announced it would play its regular-season home games with a “significantly reduced” capacity. The team is finalizing plans on how it will handle the reduced capacity with its massive base of season-ticket holders. Season-ticket holders have the option to “opt in” or “opt out” on the chance to reserve tickets. New policies and safety measures will be implemented for the games.

Meanwhile, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging across the nation, Murphy urged fans to do their part.

“We ask our fans to help us in this effort by wearing masks and staying six feet away from non-family members when out in the community in the coming weeks,” Murphy said.

Published Jul 15, 2020

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.