Our 2013 NFL Tech Series provides a quick hit of tech insight on all 32 NFL teams up until kickoff of Week 1 of the regular season. Each feature includes the latest tech advances implemented by the organization in the effort to advance the team’s success… in a wide variety of venues.
Stadium experience, fan engagement, mobile technologies, player performance and health, statistical data gathering and analysis… any and all aspects of the organization’s procedures in the effort to find success in the NFL is on the table. We’re uncovering those efforts, investigating those innovations and pondering the benefit they might provide, for the team, players and fans alike… today and looking forward.
As the NFL season gets underway, we look at the Green Bay Packers and how they have utilized some unique technologies to continue to innovate and adapt throughout their long and storied history.
1959. Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba. Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states. The Packers failed to sell out a home game for the last time.
The Green Bay Packers are one of the most unique and historically important professional sports franchises in the country. Green Bay has the smallest population of any city in the U.S. to house a pro sports franchise. Yet, every single game at historic Lambeau Field has been sold out for the last 54 years. There are more names on the season ticket holder waiting list (105,000) than there are seats in the current stadium (80,750). It is estimated that to actually acquire season tickets it would take a ridiculous 955 years because just a handful of tickets become available each year. They are the only non-profit, community owned pro sports teams in the country. And with the oldest continually used stadium in the NFL and franchise lineage tracing back to 1896, they are a present day piece of American sports history.
Despite having such a storied tradition and strong connections to their past, the Packers have not been opposed to new technological upgrades to improve the game-day experience for one of the most devoted fan bases in the world. When Lambeau Field opened in 1957 it had a seating capacity of 32,500. Today, after numerous renovations throughout its history including the most recent being this year, Lambeau can now hold 80,750 fans, roughly 76% of Green Bay’s total population. The new renovations this year added 7,000 new heated seats that will melt snow and produce the equivalent of one extra home game in revenue. A win-win for fans and the ticket sales department.
The renovations also strategically changed the lay out of the south end zone stands. Previously, the south end zone was wide open and did not trap sound. But this year seating in the south end zone was vertically expanded to keep fans closer to the field and create a wall of noise. Perfect for rattling opposing teams and ‘Lambeau Leaps’.
One of the most remarkable components of the Packers’ storied tradition and intensely loyal fan base is the harsh weather that players and spectators have endured. Nicknamed the ‘Frozen Tundra’ after the infamous 1967 Ice Bowl between the Packers and Cowboys, Lambeau Field is notorious for having some of the toughest elements to play in throughout the NFL. But as previously mentioned, the Packers are definitely not opposed to utilizing technology to aid their franchise. It turns out that tech has made the ‘Frozen Tundra’ nickname inaccurate since the Ice Bowl.
Months before the Ice Bowl in 1967, Vince Lombardi directed the installation of electric heating coils under the grass. These coils would successfully heat Lambeau Field until 1997, with the exception of one game: the aforementioned Ice Bowl. That day temperatures at -15 degrees Fahrenheit were simply too cold and the heating system could not handle it. But every other frigid game day since then, playing conditions have been improved with the heating system installed under the Lombardi era.
In 1997 the older heating system was replaced with a new heating system consisting of pipes filled with anti-freezing liquid. These pipes allow Allen Johnson, the Packers’ field manager, to actually set the temperature of the field just high enough to counteract Green Bay’s subfreezing winter air temperatures and ensure that the surface of the field does not freeze over. This allows players to maintain good traction throughout the games.
However, this field heating technology is nothing new. Many sports teams located in cold environments around the world have been heating their field or pitches for decades. A new technology that the Packers are using to maintain a high quality playing surface is called Stadium Grow Lighting (SGL) which helps to keep playing turf healthy in almost any environment.
SGL is a technology developed by Nico van Vuuren, a Dutch rose-grower and cultivation expert. Vuuren’s SGL system is a giant rolling contraption with long retractable poles and hundreds of special greenhouse lights attached. The Packers were the first U.S. pro sports team to adopt such a system. It covers half of the field at one time and is used during the off season to make sure the turf is ready for the Green Bay winters.
Johnson has very precise methods for using the SGL system to keep the grass healthy at Lambeau. Between him and three full time assistants, the field receives the Stadium Grass Lighting every day and night from October to December. When the team fertilizes or mows the lawn the SGL system is simply rolled from one half of the field to the other. For game days the system folds up and is removed from the stadium completely. When the lights are on the field, data is collected from sensors at the top of the stadium and on the field. The sensors measure air and soil temperatures and help to fine tune the maintenance of the grass with the lighting system. When the air temperature is below freezing the lights cannot be used because when the field is watered moisture gets on the bulbs. This causes the bulbs to freeze quickly and crack. Overall, the combination of the under-turf heating and the artificial SGL system makes the turf at Lambeau Field anything but the ‘Frozen Tundra’, even in the coldest of winters.
So, when thinking of the Packers and their place in American sports lore, be sure to remember that even though the franchise is over a century old, they are no stranger to adopting innovative ways to help the players on the field and the fans in the stands enjoy football at Lambeau Field. No wonder joining their season ticket waiting list won’t pay off until next millennium!