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In many American cities, old sports stadiums aren’t treasured so much as reviled or discarded at the first opportunity for a newer, bigger venue. But not in Wisconsin, the land of the cheese heads, where football games on Lambeau Field’s "frozen tundra" are storied, and the turf is almost as revered as the Green Bay Packers themselves.

Proudly displaying the IBEW banner at the refurbishing of the home of the Green Bay Packers are, clockwise from bottom left, Thomas Cuffe, William Schultz, Cynthia Williams, Mark Jepson, Joseph Van Rens, Paul Bohn, Arlene Kornowske and Margarito Almonte.

So when the publicly-owned Green Bay, Wisconsin, team wanted more modern—and higher-revenue—conveniences like club boxes, the decision was to upgrade the 46-year-old stadium, not tear it down and start over as other National Football League franchises have done. Painstaking care was taken to add new rows of seats atop the old ones and to modernize the infrastructure without compromising the integrity of the old field which has a legacy of some of football’s most venerated moments.

"No one had any desire to ever tear it down completely," said Jeffrey Knaus, of the Northeast Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council. "And I’m sure the fans didn’t want to see the old stadium torn down."

Paul Bohn and Robert Daul pause in the cavernous interior of historic Lambeau Field.

The $295 million, two-and-a-half-year renovation was completed in September, with the help of a project labor agreement that made it the first all-union project of its size in the Green Bay area, said IBEW Local 158 Business Manager James Neuens. Neuens, who is also president of the Northeast Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council, said the project has opened the door for PLAs in other large-scale projects, including two possible state-funded jobs.

"The stadium was finished on time, on budget and with high quality work," he said, adding that 4,300 members of 16 unions worked on the job. At its peak, 250 members of the IBEW were there at once. Altogether, four hundred members of the IBEW working with several contractors participated.

Local 158 member Bill Murphy, foreman for electrical contractor VDH Electric, said installing the lights, sound system and scoreboard were not tasks electricians undertake daily. The sheer scale of the project was most notable to him. "The project was the biggest thing in the area," Murphy said.

Appropriately, Labor Day was the first time the community got a chance to check out the newly refurbished stadium. An event dubbed "Labor of Love" drew 8,000 people, who had free access to the stadium, including the new atrium, the stands—everything except the Kentucky bluegrass-covered field. Sponsored by the Greater Green Bay Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and the Green Bay Packers, the event featured a visit by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who spoke about the importance of PLAs.

The stadium now seats 72,515, up 40,000 seats from its capacity when it opened in 1957. Kept open during the two seasons of the expansion, the stadium added seats last year. It was a good year for Knaus, who finally became a season ticket holder after 20 years on the waiting list. "The last card I received said I was number 5,364 and that was the year the renovation started," Knaus said. "They’ve still got 50,000 people on the waiting list to get season tickets. That list doesn’t move."

Named after Curly Lambeau, the team’s legendary founder, player and coach, the field is hallowed ground—and not just to Green Bay fans. In 1999, Sports Illustrated listed Lambeau Field as the eighth best place in the world to watch a sporting event—the only pro-football stadium to make the list. The city’s northern latitude makes it prone to home games under severe weather such as the 1967 NFL title game dubbed the "Ice Bowl" because it was played in subzero air temperatures. But although the exposed field still hosts games in frigid weather, the field itself no longer freezes since they installed a heating system. IBEW members replaced its heat sensors and boiler pumps this year as part of the project, Murphy said.

In a nation where megalopolises like New York and Los Angeles rule big league sports, Green Bay is the only modest-sized town to have its own pro-football team. The Packers have earned national stature and virtual worldwide recognition by winning more championships (12) than any team in pro football.

"No one had any desire to ever tear it down completely, And I’m sure the
fans didn’t want to see the old stadium torn down."

Visit Local 158's Web site...

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