Packers CEO says Notre Dame VS Wisconsin is still going to be played at Lambeau

A week ago, I repeated a report from the Irish Illustrated podcast that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Wisconsin Badgers may not play their 2020 game in Lambeau Field as part of the Shamrock Series — but inside Notre Dame Stadium due to concerns with the coronavirus.

SB Nation’s Bucky’s 5th Quarter dug a little deeper on the Wisconsin’s side, and the school said that they have not had any discussions with Notre Dame about moving the game. On Saturday, Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy was asked about this, and he confirmed that the game is still scheduled to be played in Green Bay.

I’m glad you brought this issue up, Matt. There was a report last week that erroneously stated that the Wisconsin-Notre Dame game this year would be played in South Bend rather than Lambeau Field. We have talked to representatives from both Notre Dame and Wisconsin, and they’ve confirmed that they are still planning to play the game at Lambeau Field. I do think that college football will be played this year. Like the NFL, the colleges have three months before the football season will start, and we will both be able to learn from the other sports over the next few months to see what works and doesn’t work in terms of holding games. The colleges also have the issue of whether their campuses will be open to students, which may impact the decision of whether to play games. Obviously, the key factor here will be the status of the virus and how our efforts at slowing the spread have worked.

That’s a fairly strong statement, but it still does leave some room for movement — IF things change. As we have pointed out on the OFD Podcast several times, however, contracts make things much harder to just change as the date rapidly approaches.

Notre Dame has yet to release its full plan for how they want to handle attendance inside Notre Dame Stadium this year, and I do wonder how that policy will affect this game. Does Notre Dame put the same restrictions in place, or what if the Packers policy is different — will they use that guideline inside Green Bay’s home?

Personal feelings aside... the Shamrock Series is supposed to be a “barnstorming” event, where Irish fans “take over” a particular venue with fans and alumni. They provide various events, rallies, and celebrations throughout the week that culminates with the game inside an NFL Stadium. All of that pomp and circumstance is likely out of the picture this year, so the entire point of it all is being lost.

They should abolish the Shamrock Series anyways (had to say it).