GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – The countdown is on- in mere hours, the Packers will see their first taste of the post season in three years!
For a few days, it looked like they’d be doing it in a fresh few inches of snow. Late last week, the Packers were asking for as many as 700 people to help shovel out the stadium ahead of tonight’s game. That number has now been cut in half to 350. Shovelers showed up to the Fleet Farm Gate this morning for work that began around 6:00 a.m.
Those who work with the Packers’ facility operations are no stranger to clearing snow- there were two other occasions this season when the Packers sent out a call for help from residents to get the stadium bowl game time ready.
“Little bit different this morning,” said Ted Eisenreich, Director of Facility Operations at Lambeau Field. ” It’s the first time we actually brought the public in to help us prepare on game day. With the game being a 5:40 kickoff, we were able to do some work in the morning that normally we couldn’t do with a noon kickoff, so that helped us.”
Green Bay residents and fans showed up in large numbers for the opportunity to help out in any way. A few fans from Seattle even showed up to help out.
“We brought in roughly 350 people, and we brushed the seats off,” says Eisenreich. “We brushed the steps off, and then we brought another crew behind that and did all the salting. So everything has salt on it.”
And the cold didn’t prevent these devoted fans from turning out.
“There’s always a little nervousness there when one you change the number, two it’s early morning, cold outside,” said Eisenreich. “But it never fails. Our fans always come through for us.”
Tonight’s game marks the first time the Packers and Seahawks will meet in the in playoffs since the 2015 NFC Championship game. The winner of tonight’s game will go on to face the San Francisco 49ers in next weekend’s NFC Championship game.
The Packers kick-off against the Seahawks tonight at 5:40.