Why Wisconsin, Notre Dame are playing at Lambeau Field for Week 1

MADISON – Wisconsin and Notre Dame’s Sept. 6 season opener will have a unique setting as they play at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

“That place was beautiful,” Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph said, thinking back to his summer visit. “I love all the historic background that it has and the significance of all that. And I’m really blessed to have the opportunity to play in a stadium like that.”

It will be the first college football game at Lambeau Field since Wisconsin’s 2016 win over LSU. Before that, the most recent game was in 1983 and featured St. Norbert and Fordham.

Why are Wisconsin, Notre Dame playing at Lambeau Field?

The Lambeau Field game is part of a contract signed by UW and Notre Dame in 2017 – about a year after the still-memorable Wisconsin-LSU game.

“To play a game there … and the atmosphere turned into a college atmosphere and just the electricity around Green Bay and in the stadium was truly special for our athletes,” then-UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said at the time of the 2017 announcement.

It was part of a two-game contract that consisted of a 2020 game at Lambeau and a 2021 game at Soldier Field in Chicago. The 2020 game – like the rest of the Big Ten’s nonconference games that year – was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic and later rescheduled for 2026.

Then-No. 12 Notre Dame – with ex-Badger Jack Coan starting at quarterback – handily won the 2021 game, 41-13.

The Notre Dame games followed a trend of playing high-profile nonconference opponents in neutral locations. Along with the Lambeau game in 2016, UW played LSU in Houston in 2014. UW also played Alabama in 2015 in Arlington, Texas.

The Lambeau game is not the only college football game on Sept. 6 to take place at an NFL stadium. No. 10 Mississippi will face Louisville at Nissan Stadium in Nashville at the same time as the Wisconsin-Notre Dame game.

Why is Notre Dame officially the home team at Lambeau?

The Lambeau game will count as a neutral site in the standings for Wisconsin and Notre Dame. The two schools received equal ticket allotments, and neither team will use the Packers’ home locker room.

But the game contract officially designated Wisconsin as the home team in the 2021 Soldier Field game and Notre Dame as the home team in the 2026 Lambeau game. That mainly affects the TV designation, as Notre Dame rightsholder NBC will be broadcasting this year’s game.

Neither team will wear the traditional white uniforms that would be expected for the away team. Wisconsin will be wearing red alternate uniforms with chrome numbering and other accents. Notre Dame, a fellow Under Armour school, will wear navy blue alternate uniforms with gold metallic numbering and accents.

UW wore white in the 2021 game despite technically being the home team.

Notre Dame’s technical status as the home team coincides with this being a Shamrock Series game. The Fighting Irish hold an assortment of fan events for their Shamrock Series games, which are at neutral sites. Past Shamrock Series games have been at Fenway Park in Boston, Yankee Stadium in New York and other far-flung locations.

Why did it take so long to reschedule the 2020 game?

The lengthy time between the intended 2020 date and actual 2026 date of the game is reflective of how far ahead college football teams work when scheduling future nonconference games. Week 1 of 2026 was when both Wisconsin and Notre Dame could accommodate the game.

Looking ahead, Wisconsin already has Pittsburgh, Southern Illinois and Colorado State lined up for its 2027 nonconference schedule. (The Pittsburgh game will be in Dublin, Ireland.) The 2028 schedule includes Marshall, William & Mary and Utah.

What happened in other Lambeau Field college football games?

The Badgers’ last game at Lambeau Field was a memorable one.

Unranked Wisconsin toppled No. 5 LSU, 16-14, in front of 77,823 fans in Green Bay. The Paul Chryst-led Badgers blew a 13-0 lead before kicker Rafael Gaglianone hit a 47-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to give UW a lasting lead.

St. Norbert played three games at Lambeau Field, according to a 2016 article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The first one was a 29-14 win over Minnesota State Mankato on Oct. 29, 1960 at what was then known as City Stadium. Then St. Norbert claimed 14-10 and 18-9 wins over Fordham in the 1982 and 1983 seasons.

That means that Notre Dame – a 20.5-point favorite – could potentially become the first out-of-state college football team to win at Lambeau Field.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Wisconsin, Notre Dame are playing at Lambeau Field for Week 1