I became a Packers owner in 2022. I’m ashamed it took me that long but I’ve tried to make up for lost time as much as I can. Part of that has been attending the annual shareholders meeting every July. As an added benefit I was also to able to take in day three of Packers training camp. What I’ve done below is provided a timeline of what was an absolutely wonderful day of Packers fandom, and maybe a guide to fellow shareholders that haven’t had the chance to attend yet. You’ll notice I use “we” in the following notes, because I was lucky enough to have my father with me along for the ride.

Packers Training Camp

9:14 am: We arrive at Lambeau Field to see about getting into the practice. This is when the first reminder that Packers fans are insane people hits. Fans are already populating the sides of the cordoned off bike path from Lambeau all the way to the entrance of the practice field. My original intention was to arrive an hour ahead of the practice starting. If I do this again or anybody reading this wants to do this, be there when they open, one and a half hours prior to the start of the practice.

9:32 am: After speaking with some of the stadium employees, we determined that the best course of action was to find seats in the bleachers at the practice field before doing anything else. This proved more difficult than I expected, because again, Packers fans are nuts (in the best way). We eventually found seats after a few people were kind enough to shift around a bit.

10:00 am: This is an estimate, but around this point the kickers took the field, and the punter began taking kicks. The bleachers at the training field are essentially at ground level, which makes getting perspective on how the punter was absolutely destroying the ball a little tough (He had several punts that looked like they fell into the 70-80 yard range).

10:30 am: Practice officially begins. We’re given a speech from the team employees about photos being allowed and video not. The players take the field.

10:57 am: After some initial warm ups the defense and offense are sent to separate sides of the field to work on a number of drills.

11:37 am: The team begins my favorite part of camp, the two minute drills. The defense is locked in and on first try all three units are held to field goal attempts. The offense does get a second bite at the apple however culminating in a beautiful throw from Love to Wicks for a 50 yard TD.

12:00 pm: We decide to head out a bit early to hopefully hit the pro shop, plus the heat is becoming insanely unbearable. This may change in the future, but I would recommend any attendees to bring their own water, because it was not made available there.

The Packers Pro Shop

12:18 pm: As mentioned previously, we left practice a bit early in the hopes that the pro shop might be less occupied than normal – we should have figured by the amount of fans hanging out outside waiting for round two the bike tradition that this would not be the case.

The Pro Shop is much bigger than it looks from the outside, and still managed to be absolutely packed. I was able to grab a couple of shirts for my kids and a nice shareholders exclusive glass for the trip home.

While the entire shop is open, there are multiple stations inside that feature items and apparel only available to shareholders (and they do check that you are one on the way out).

12:47 pm: We head back to our vehicle to stash our loot before heading back in to the stadium, while we do this Packers DC Jeff Hafley and two other coaches are heading back to the building not 10 feet from us. I wish I could say we spoke, but I was so caught off guard that before the thought occurred to me he was already gone.

On our way back to the stadium we also caught a bit of the bike tradition as practice ended:

A Break and the Meeting

1:14 pm: Getting back to the stadium we needed a break and ideally something to drink. We put our names down for the 1919 Tap Room in the stadium, and were told the wait would be nearly two hours. Luckily, we managed to snag a few bar seats after circling the bar a few times while we waited.

The only comment I have is that the cheese curds were delicious.

2:47 pm: After taking the time to cool down and get something to eat, we headed to the field to find seats for the meeting. The meeting is held on the field with fans sitting in the bleachers. It is absurdly hot.

3:07 pm: The meeting begins with Mark Murphy making a number of comments about the team and how it is his final year holding this meeting. The fans greeted him with a standing ovation when he came onto the field.

3:15 pm: Packers GM Brian Gutekunst takes over and gives a recap of the season prior and a list of the new additions the team has made.

3:36 pm: After Gutekunst finishes Murphy begins speaking again. The meeting at this point involves discussions about the team and its relationship to the community and then begins to pivot to the financial side of things. I wish we could say we stayed for every minute, but at this point heat stroke feels like its on the table and we decide to head back inside.

3:45 pm: We take a few pictures inside and head back to the car. Even with practice wrapped up, the meeting being close to finished, there’s still a host of Packers fans milling about the area. There really isn’t a fan base like this one anywhere else in the world.

A Day Well Spent

If you’re a Packers fan, and particularly if you are a shareholder, you have to make this trip at least once. Hopefully they continue to line the meeting up with training camp because it provides a full day of Packers experiences that any fanbase would wish their own team could replicate.

Just make sure to stay hydrated. Because it is hotter than it has any right to be.