Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 100

v- 2 i IV ween Bay Kress-uazeue oc CantamKar "ft: 1QOO Tickets I MM Fans desiring season tickets must be patient COMIFOM AISLE STYLE irkcG M) frShl Si If Save on all styles of men dress, casual, walking and athletic shoes Turn Tec 17 a by "Impulse" Leather Walking Shoe and one exhibition ticket costs $162 for sideline seats; $138 for end zone. "Tickets are very valuable and there is a demand for them," said Gene Sladky of Kewaunee, a member of the Packers board of directors who remembers leaner years. He got involved with the ticket sales in 1957 when the Packers office was located on North Washington Street where the Downtowner Best Western Motel is now. "Ticket sales at that time were tough," he said. "We were selling stock just to keep the Packers in town." Tickets 'also were sold through agencies in Shawano, Sturgeon Bay, Oshkosh, Two Rivers and Kewaunee.

He picked up the tickets, "all in my name," for the Kewaunee agency, which was located in his father's bowling alley. He continues to hold them today. "The tickets belong to the guy who has paid for them all the years," he said. In those days, the agency tickets didn't always Bell out. Those not sold by the Thursday or Friday before the game were returned to the Packers office, he said.

Some of the same people are still getting their season tickets through Sladky. One of them is Bill Maigatter of Kewaunee, who has purchased tickets since 1948. He's been in Section 19 at both stadiums. "They're behind the visiting team, about where I sat at the old stadium," he said. Once surrounded by familiar faces, he says things have been changing over the years.

Some of the old regulars continue to come to the games, but there are new faces as tickets are used by holders' children, other family members or friends. The number of season tickets holders has increased with stadium expansions. Capacity was increased to 38,669 in 1961 and to 42,327 in 1963. In 1965, when the stadium officially became Lambeau Field, seating reached 50,861. Since then, with other expansions and the addition of skyboxes and club seats, it seats 59,543.

Season tickets become available for those on the waiting list when people either turn theirs in or tickets are canceled when owners fail to pay for them, Wagner said. There are 12,000 on the list and the average wait is 25 years, but it wasn't always that way By Dian Page Press-Gazette What are 12,000 people waiting for, are fought ovet; in divorce court and willed to next of kin? You've got it Packers season Coveted since the 19.10s by those without, Packers season tickets continue to be a popular topic of ppnversiition. The team plays before sellout crowds season after season at Lambeau Field. There are 12,000 fans on the season tickets waiting list, according to Mark Wagner, Packers ticket director. It takes patience and an average of about 25 years to get them, he said.

It wasn't always that way, said Paul Mazzoleni of Green Bay, who was involved with the ticket drive when the new City Stadium (now Lambeau Field) opened with a capacity of 32,150 in 1957. It replaced the old East (City) Stadium near East High School, which was built originally for 6,000 fans in 1925 and gradually increased to a capacity of 25,000. "We wanted to fill it (the new stadium) up, but we didn't quite sell it out," he said. "The Packers had come off a bad season and there was a lot of criticism about the team." He said large businesses in the community bought blocks of tickets to get things rolling and continue to hold them today. Tickets per game at that time were $4.75, $3.30, $2.25 and 75 cents for children.

"We missed by about 3,000 that year," he said. The next year, despite a record of 3-9, the stadium was sold out. "Then, of course, (Coach Vince) Iiombardi came in 1959 and after that you had to have an inside person to get a ticket." Mazzoleni, 79, said he purchased" a block of 20 tickets in 1957. "But it got to be a financial problem when the price kept escalating." So since then, he's transferred 15 and kept five, one for each of his four sons and one for himself. Today the season tickets package in Green Bay for five regular Black mOniC CRUISE Medium and Wide Widths Leather Walking Shoe 2 colore: Black Brown Weyenberg Leather Comfort Casuals Medium and Wide Widths 8 y.v SAVE 3 Wtom a 1 th, DRESS SHOES $10 to $20 OFF ATHLETICS Now OFF WORK SHOES Now $7 to $20 OFF Affordable Elegance Limousine Service X-X A -ft A Special Parties, Weddings, Anniversaries, Dog Races, Milwaukee, Door County Complete With Television Privacy Window gakv, Wet Bar AMFM Cassette Cellular Phone "Intercom $802 nr.

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