September 14, 2023 – THEME WEEK DAY 4

We’re almost through our theme week on NFL Team Name Origins. Today we’re talking about the Green Bay Packers! They’re the 3rd oldest franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1919. And they’ve been playing in their original city longer than any other team in the league!
The team was founded in 1919 by Earl “Curly” Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun. Needing to outfit his new squad, Lambeau went to his employer, the Indian Packing Company, a local meat packer, to ask for funds. They gave him $500 for uniforms and equipment and let him use the company’s grounds as a practice field, but there was one condition: that the team be named after its sponsor. Curly originally wanted to call the team the Indians, but his girlfriend suggested the Packers instead.
The Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team in the U.S. Instead of being the property of an individual, partnership, or corporation, they’re held by more than 537,000 stockholders. This is part of the reason the team has stayed in Green Bay for nearly a century, despite being the smallest market in North American professional sports.
The Packers have an extremely loyal fanbase (including Joan Jett!). Since 1960, every single game played in Green Bay, whether it’s preseason, regular season, or playoffs, has been a sell-out. They also have one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets. It’s 140,000 names long! The average wait is said to be around 30 years. As a result, many people put their season tickets in their will, and newborns are optimistically added to the list.
Packers fans are known as cheeseheads. The name was first leveled as an insult at a 1987 baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. It didn’t have the intended effect, instead becoming a statewide source of pride, especially embraced by Packers fans since 1994.
The Packers have won 13 league championships, the most in NFL history. They won the first 2 Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967, and the Vince Lombardi Trophy is named in honor of their coach. After struggling through the 1970s and 80s, the team has had quite a bit of regular season success, making the playoffs 22 times since 1993. Learn more here.
 

 
(Not only is Joan Jett a Packers fan but this song was adapted for NBC Sunday Night Football, named “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night”!)