Ray Nitschke Field is one of the two outdoor practice facilities of the Green Bay Packers (the other is

Clarke Hinkle Field Clarke Hinkle Field is one of the two outdoor American football practice facilities of the Green Bay Packers (the other being Ray Nitschke Field). These fields, together with the Don Hutson Center, comprise the team's training complex. The field ...

). These fields, together with the

Don Hutson Center The Don Hutson Center is the indoor practice facility of the Green Bay Packers. Located across the street from Lambeau Field, it was built in 1994 at a cost of $4.7 million. The center is named after Don Hutson, who played for the Packers fr ...

, comprise the team's training complex. The field is named for

Ray Nitschke Raymond Ernest Nitschke (December 29, 1936 – March 8, 1998) was a professional American football middle linebacker who spent his entire 15-year National Football League (NFL) career with the in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in , he was the a ...

, who played for the Packers from 1958 to 1972 and whose number 66 was retired by the team. Nitschke is a member of both the Pro Football and

Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the thi ...

Hall of Fames. On June 18, 2003, the Brown County Board voted 23–0 to approve a new lease for Ray Nitschke Field which gave the Packers the use of the site through 2020. The lease began in 2004 and started at $125,000 with an increase of $5,000 in each succeeding year. The Packers had been leasing the field from the County since 1997 for $15,000 a year. This field had an artificial FieldTurf surface, installed in 2004 (Clarke Hinkle Field has a natural grass surface). The Packers have since signed a 15-year lease with Brown County to move the field closer to the Don Hutson Center, with their paying $200,000 to the county this year and increasing $6,500 each subsequent year. The new location is in a former parking lot for the

Resch Center The Resch Center is a 10,200-seat multi-purpose arena, in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, United States built in 2002. It is the home of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball team, the Green Bay Gamblers ice hockey tea ...

and as part of the deal the Packers had to build a 205-space parking lot at the former site of Nitschke Field. On August 1, 2009, the Packers unveiled major renovations to the practice facility, including bleacher seating for 1500 fans, a sound system for announcements and music as well as natural grass field with underground heating. The heating system will enable the team to host outdoor practices in the winter, something they have been unable to do in the past. The exterior facade uses the same brick style as Lambeau Field and the 170 × 75-yard field is considered a state-of-the-art practice field unlike anything else in the NFL.
''

Green Bay Press Gazette The ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' is a newspaper whose primary coverage is of northeastern Wisconsin, including Green Bay. It was founded as the ''Green Bay Gazette'' in 1866 as a weekly paper, becoming a daily newspaper in 1871. The ''Green Ba ...

'' article about the new field.

References

External links

article on new Nitschke Field lease

''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' article about the installation of the FieldTurf surface
{{Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers stadiums Sports venues in Green Bay, Wisconsin American football venues in Wisconsin 1997 establishments in Wisconsin Sports venues completed in 1997