Packers paying Badgers $3M for Lambeau game
GREEN BAY - The Green Bay Packers will pay the University of Wisconsin $3 million to play Louisiana State University at Lambeau Field.
The Lambeau Field College Classic on Sept. 3 will be the first major college football game to be played at Lambeau Field.
The deal is similar in structure to Wisconsin's previous neutral-site games against Alabama in Dallas last year and against LSU in Houston in 2014, said Jeff Schmidt, associate athletic director at Wisconsin. The money goes to Wisconsin's athletic department.
"The net is similar to what we would net for a home game in Madison," Schmidt said.
Wisconsin received 40,000 tickets to the game, with prices set by the Packers.
The Packers will assume all costs of hosting the game and keep ticket, parking and concessions revenue.
Also, the Packers have a game sponsor in Carmex Laboratories Inc. of Franklin — terms of that deal were not disclosed — and sell program and other advertising. They also will market Wisconsin and LSU merchandise for the game.
This is Carmex's first major sports sponsorship, though the company has worked with the Packers on lower-level partnerships in the past. Carmex is in the town of Franklin, southwest of Milwaukee. Carma Laboratories Inc. was founded in 1937 by Alfred Woelbing. The company is in its third generation of family ownership. All of its product is manufactured in Franklin.
The game will be the fourth meeting between Wisconsin and LSU. The Tigers won three games, including, most recently, a come-from-behind 28-24 victory in 2014 in Houston.
It will be the first major college game at Lambeau Field and the 11th scheduled football game there in 2016, including 10 Packers games. A Packers regular-season game is estimated to have a more than $14 million economic boost to Brown County. The Wisconsin game might have a larger benefit because more attendees will be from outside the county than during a Packers game and some, notably the LSU contingent, will stay in town longer. Some LSU fans have booked rooms as early as Wednesday, according to the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The number of LSU fans who come to Green Bay could be affected, however, by severe flooding in Southern Louisiana, where tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
The game will begin at 2:30 p.m. on be broadcast on ABC-TV. ESPN College GameDay will be broadcast from Lambeau Field, as well.
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