GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – U.K. Packers fans say it’s been a long time coming to see the Packers finally come overseas.
Stephen O’Brien says he’s promised CEO and President of the Packers Mark Murphy that Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will feel just like a Lambeau Field home game when the Packers go to London.
O’Brien is the co-founder of UK and Irish Packers, a fan group.
“Elation, elation because the Packers were the only team not able to make it to London so we’ve been waiting an awful long time for this,” said O’Brien.
But O’Brien says there’s really only one problem, “The stadium seats about 62 ,000 people and there’s about 400,000 people wanting to go so tickets will be like gold dust but we’re very very happy.”
The UK and Irish Packers take a lucky group to Green Bay every year so lifelong fans can tailgate, bundle up in Lambeau Field and explore Green Bay.
“Since the Packers are going to you next year, will your group still come to us?” asked FOX 11.
“Two doses of the Packers are better than one, if someone asked you if you wanted two birthday cakes or one Gabriella, you have to go with two, you have to go with two, so we’re still going over,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien says the Packers going to London will hopefully create more of an international fanbase and more people will want to experience Lambeau Field too.
That’s what Discover Green Bay is hoping to maximize.
“A destination in a city the size of Green Bay doesn’t really get to be put on the international scale like this,” said Nick Meisner with Discover Green Bay.
Meisner says they are working to partner with Travel Wisconsin and Great Lakes USA to help plan events while the Packers are in London.
“To reach across the ocean and to tell people about the Green Bay area as a whole beyond just the Packers and our culture, and our food and our music and entertainment and outdoor recreation its really a great opportunity for us to tell that story,” said Meisner.
O’Brien says the amount of European Packers fans would shock Americans.
He says the opportunity to have people in the UK experience something even similar to Lambeau Field is what makes this so monumental.
