PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The news of Luke Combs playing at Lambeau Field next year is part of an effort to bring more big events to the stadium, according to the Green Bay Packers.
“Our goal under our new president, Ed Policy, is to bring more events here,” said Gabrielle Dow, vice president of marketing and fan engagement for the Packers.
Combs’ concert is providing a first: two major non-Packers events on the field in the same calendar year. A Wisconsin-Notre Dame football game is set for Sept. 6.
The concert is the fifth large-scale concert in Lambeau history and the first since 2019, when Paul McCartney played. Billy Joel and two Kenny Chesney concerts were the others.
The COVID-19 pandemic and hosting the NFL Draft played large roles in the hiatus of concerts, according to Dow.
Weather and wanting the field to be ready for football also means the Packers provide promoters only a small window of May and June for when Lambeau Field is open.
“Sometimes we’ve lost major acts because they can only get here in August or September,” said Dow. “Those are primetime game weekends. Our field has to remain protected for those games.”
Who has the window prevented from coming? We know it’s not Taylor Swift. The weight of her stage is to blame.
“It’s just not something Lambeau Field can entertain because of the heating pipes that are underneath and what would happen to the field and the structure of it,” said Dow.
Dow says the concert wish list for the team includes Bruce Springsteen, but the Packers’ window for concerts has prevented him from playing here.
“The genre doesn’t matter,” said Dow. “It’s just, can you sell out Lambeau Field?”
The Packers say concerts take about a year to book, so Combs will likely be the only concert next year.
The team is bidding on other events they wouldn’t name, but say those are three to five years out.
One thing that had been discussed that won’t be happening is Lambeau being a team base for a World Cup team next year.
“When you looked at the return on investment, two temporary fields for that kind of money and only one day of practice, the economics just didn’t work out,” said Dow, who estimated the investment would have been in the millions.
However, other soccer action is in the works. The Packers were in London last week talking with the Premier League about bringing another soccer game here, just as it did for the first time in 2022 — an exhibition between Manchester City and FC Bayern Munich.
Combs’ is playing at Lambeau Field on May 15 and 16 of 2026. The Saturday concert was announced first; following the excitement and demand, the Friday concert was added.
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