Discover the Top 3 Biggest Stadiums in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a mid-sized state, both in total area and population. It is the 23rd largest U.S. state with 65,496 square miles (169,635 square kilometers) of total area. Wisconsin is the 20th most populous state in the nation with 5,892,539 residents (U.S. Census Bureau 2022 estimate). While America’s Dairyland ranks in the middle of the pack among U.S. states for size and population, there is nothing mid-sized about some of its stadiums. The state may not have as many large stadiums as other states of similar size, but there are two giant stadiums (and one that is above the average size in its sport). Here is a look at the three biggest stadiums in Wisconsin.

1. Lambeau Field – 81,441 Capacity

The largest stadium in Wisconsin is also one of the most famous sports arenas in the world: Lambeau Field. This historic stadium in Green Bay is home to one of the most storied franchises in the National Football League (NFL): the Green Bay Packers.

Lambeau Field opened its doors in 1957. The Packers previously played their home games at City Stadium, but the venue had a small seating capacity of just 25,000. The NFL demanded the construction of a larger stadium to increase fan attendance and revenue. If a larger stadium was not built, the league threatened to move the team permanently to Milwaukee County Stadium.

A New Football Stadium

A new stadium was approved by voters and was built in just a year’s time. It was the first modern stadium that was built specifically for an NFL franchise. Initially known as “New” City Stadium, the venue boasted 32,500 seats, a 30% increase over the old stadium’s capacity.

When the stadium opened on September 19, 1957, a capacity crowd filled the venue to watch the Packers defeat their rival, the Chicago Bears, by a score of 21-17. Vice President Richard Nixon was in attendance and participated in a dedication ceremony during halftime.

The stadium was renamed in August 1965 in memory of Earl “Curly” Lambeau who died two months earlier. Lambeau was the team’s founder. He also played for the team during its early years. He then became the Packers’ head coach, a role he would hold for 31 years.

Three years after the stadium received a new name, its street address was also changed. The stadium had been located on Highland Avenue, but the street was renamed Lombardi Avenue in honor of former Packers head coach Vince Lombardi. The NFL’s championship trophy which is awarded to the team that wins the Super Bowl is also named after Lombardi.

Lambeau Field’s seating capacity was expanded through numerous renovations. It exceeded 40,000 seats by 1963, 50,000 by 1965, 60,000 by 1995, 70,000 in 2003, and 80,000 in 2013. The current capacity capacity of 81,441 makes Lambeau Field the second-largest stadium in the NFL. Only New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets, is bigger with a seating capacity of 82,500.

Title Town

Lambeau Field has seen numerous championships in its long history. So many, in fact, that Green Bay came to be known as “Title Town.” Since the stadium’s opening in 1957, the Packers have won 17 divisional championships, nine conference titles, and four Super Bowls. The Packers won the first two Super Bowls ever contested in 1966 and 1967. They also won Super Bowl XXXI in 1996 and Super Bowl XLV in 2010. (The years correspond to the regular season. The Super Bowl championship games were played in January or February of the following year.)

The Frozen Tundra

Lambeau Field is colloquially known as “The Frozen Tundra.” That nickname originated from the “Ice Bowl,” the 1967 NFL Championship Game in which the Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 21-17. The game was contested on December 31, 1967. The game-time temperature was -13°F (-25°C) with a wind chill of -36°F. Several players were treated for frostbite. The referees shouted rather than blowing their whistles because the metal whistles would instantly freeze to their lips. Nearly 51,000 fans attended the game. Tragically, one fan died from exposure to the cold. The “Ice Bowl” still holds the record as the coldest game in NFL history.

While no game has rivaled the “Ice Bowl,” cold weather is part of the Lambeau experience. Stadiums in other extreme weather environments have fixed or retractable roofs. Teams in hot weather cities, such as the Las Vegas Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals, have roofed stadiums. The Minnesota Vikings, another team playing in a harshly cold location, also has a roofed stadium. However, Lambeau Field is an open-air venue, meaning the team and the fans endure the worst of Green Bay’s weather. The NFL regular season runs from September through early January, and the temperatures in Green Bay can be downright bone-chilling. Lambeau Field is the coldest and snowiest stadium in the NFL.

Along with being the coldest, Lambeau Stadium is also among the oldest stadiums in the nation. Only Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) and Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs) have been occupied by their teams longer than Lambeau Field. Soldier Field in Chicago is older than Lambeau (1924), but the Chicago Bears did not move into the stadium until 1970.

A Small Market with a Passionate Fanbase

Green Bay has a population of 106,095 (U.S. Census Bureau 2022 estimate), with about 320,000 residents in the Greater Green Bay metropolitan area. The Packers’ market size is estimated to be 471,000 people, the smallest market for a major league team of any sport in North America. However, the team’s value far exceeds that of many franchises in significantly larger markets. In 2023, Forbes ranked the Green Bay Packers as the 31st most valuable sports franchise in the world. The team’s long and storied history is inextricably linked to its stadium, historic Lambeau Field.

The stadium sells out for every Packers home game and has since 1960. That is nearly 300 straight sellouts. The season ticket waiting list is said to contain 78,000 requests. This is one of the main reasons why the “cheeseheads,” the colloquial name for Packers fans, are rated as one of the most passionate fanbases in the NFL.

2. Camp Randall Stadium – 75,822 Capacity

Wisconsin’s second-biggest stadium is located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin (UW). Camp Randall Stadium has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team for nearly 130 years.

Humble Beginnings

The history of the stadium dates back to 1895 when the school’s football and baseball teams began competing on the grounds. Very basic wooden bleachers were put in place for spectators, but those bleachers were deemed unsafe by 1914. The school requested $40,000 to construct a proper stadium, but only received half of it. However, after the bleachers collapsed during a game the following year, the state provided the remainder of the funds to build a new stadium.

The stadium opened in 1917 with 10,500 seats, 3,000 of which were wood. Multiple expansions in 1921, 1924, 1940, 1951, 1958, 1966, and 2004 increased the seating capacity. For a time, the stadium could hold 80,321 fans, nearly rivaling the capacity of Lambeau Field. In 2022, the addition of premium seating (which replaced bleachers in the south end zone) reduced the stadium’s seating to its current capacity of 75,822.

Camp Randall Stadium is the oldest in the Big Ten Conference. It is the seventh-largest of the eighteen stadiums that will be part of the conference in the 2024 season.

Camp Randall

The stadium is built on the site of Camp Randall, a Union Army training camp during the Civil War. The camp was named after Governor Alexander Randall who organized the first volunteer troop brigades from Wisconsin during the Civil War. Over 70,000 soldiers were trained at the site between 1861 and 1865. The site also briefly served as a P.O.W. camp for 1,300-1,400 Confederate soldiers who were captured along the Mississippi River in 1862. The stadium was named in honor of this Civil War camp and still bears that name today.

The Camp Randall Memorial Arch was constructed in 1912 to commemorate the site of this historic and important camp during the nation’s Civil War. It serves as the entrance to Camp Randall Memorial Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The arch is also the entry point to Camp Randall Stadium for the UW Marching Band on football Saturdays.

Other Large Events

Along with housing the Badgers football team, Camp Randall Stadium has also hosted twelve exhibition games for the Green Bay Packers. The UW men’s and women’s ice hockey teams each played games in the venue on February 6, 2010. It also hosted the world championships for Drum Corps International in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1999, 2002, and 2006.

Camp Randall Stadium has hosted concerts by world-renowned rock artists/bands, such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, U2, The Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Public Enemy, Blues Traveler, and Lenny Kravitz.

The stadium’s record attendance was set on November 12, 2005 (before the capacity was reduced in 2022) when 83,184 fans packed in to watch their beloved Badgers football team take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa prevailed over UW by a score of 20-10.

3. American Family Field – 41,900 Capacity

While American Family Field is the third-largest stadium in Wisconsin, it is much smaller than the top two stadiums in the state. This stadium west of downtown Milwaukee is about half the size of Lambeau Field.

Major League Baseball in Wisconsin

American Family Field is the home of the Milwaukee Brewers, Wisconsin’s only Major League Baseball (MLB) team. The stadium opened its doors in 2001, replacing Milwaukee County Stadium. That stadium was the home of the Milwaukee Braves from 1953 until the team moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1966. The stadium welcomed a new team, the Brewers, in 1970.

The Brewers began as an MLB American League expansion club in 1969. The team was based in Seattle, Washington, and was known as the Seattle Pilots. The franchise lasted just one season in Seattle and moved to Milwaukee in 1970. The team would compete in the American League through the 1997 season. It was then moved to the National League. This was a return to the roots of MLB in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Braves had played in the National League during their thirteen seasons in the city.

Upon their arrival in 1970, the Brewers played their home games in Milwaukee County Stadium. They would continue to call that stadium home until 2001 when American Family Field (then known as Miller Park) opened.

Building a New Ballpark

Construction on American Family Field began with a groundbreaking ceremony on the 265-acre site on November 9, 1996. The stadium was scheduled to open in 2000, but construction was paused after three workers were killed in an accident on July 14, 1999. A crane that was lifting a 450-ton section of the stadium’s roof collapsed, killing the three ironworkers. A sculpture named Teamwork was created and placed at the stadium to honor Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr, the three workers who died in the accident.

A Unique Roof

The stadium features the only fan-shaped convertible roof in North America. It can open and close in less than ten minutes thanks to the sophisticated bogie system which was replaced in 2006. The roof weighs 12,000 tons. It spans 600 feet, covering 10.5 acres. The peak of the roof stands 330 feet above the playing surface. It features large panes of glass that allow the natural grass on the field to grow throughout the offseason.

Naming Rights

The stadium was known as Miller Park from 2001-2020 as part of a naming rights deal with the Miller Brewing Company. The deal expired at the end of 2020. American Family Insurance, which is based in Madison, inked a 15-year naming rights deal in 2021. The insurance company will pay $4 million per year for the duration of the deal to attach their name to the Brewers’ ballpark. That is about twice the amount the Miller Brewing Company paid for its nearly twenty-year naming rights deal.

Size and Attendance

American Family Field has the 14th-highest seating capacity of MLB’s thirty ballparks. The biggest ballpark is Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland A’s, with a capacity of 56,782. (The team’s ownership is seeking to move the franchise to Las Vegas after the 2024 season, though.) The smallest park in MLB is Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians, with a capacity of 34,830.

The Brewers have seen an average attendance of 31,783 fans per game since American Family Field opened. Their average attendance of 2,574,423 fans per season is the eleventh highest among MLB’s thirty franchises.

Concert Venue

The record attendance for American Family Field was set on August 21, 2023, when 46,644 people attended a concert headlined by Pink. She was also the first woman in history to headline a stadium concert in the state of Wisconsin. The concert narrowly broke the stadium’s attendance record set by George Strait just two months earlier.

Other large concerts at the stadium have included artists such as ‘NSync, Bruce Springsteen, Randy Travis, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls, Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, Sugarland, Kid Rock, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Paul McCartney, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, and Billy Joel.