Being a Green Bay Packers fan is a treat, but it’s not always easy for out-of-state fans.
Because of the passion of Packers fans and their willingness to travel, a trip to Lambeau Field can be a costly affair, especially if you’re one of millions of fans outside of the United States. A trip to our great city for training camp is cheaper, but even then it isn’t a realistic option for many fans.
I live in the great city of Cleveland under the tyranny of Cleveland Browns fans. I yearn for a crumb of Packers’ action in these dark offseason times. Thankfully, the Packers host a massive open practice every year in the form of Family Night. Throughout its 22-year existence, Family Night has provided fans a full Lambeau Field experience before the season begins, letting us see our favorite and new players in action.
This event has morphed from a full-team scrimmage to a structured practice in recent years, but it’s still a fantastic opportunity to see players in action and get hyped for the season. Or so you’d think. While Family Night would be a sight for sore eyes for an out-of-state fan for me, the team refused to broadcast the event to all of Packer Nation. I had to settle for mere tweets and audience clips alongside the bare trickle of what the Packers’ conservative social media team would allow. Green Bay’s stance on broadcasting the event is outdated and a disservice to the millions of fans outside of Wisconsin.
When asked about the broadcast, President and CEO Mark Murphy cited a competitive disadvantage as the primary reason to disallow a public stream.
“We decided not to stream Family Night for competitive reasons. We will be making some adjustments with the scheme this year with a new starting quarterback and several young players at skill positions,” Murphy said in his weekly column on Packers.com. “If the practice was streamed, it would be easy for opposing teams to be able to watch the practice and gain a competitive advantage.”
This is the same reason the Packers don’t allow the assembled media to take videos at practice throughout training camp and OTAs. NFL teams value their secrecy more than a coven of warlocks, and Green Bay isn’t the only team to be stingy with their practice content. And we’ve seen NFL teams actually spy on one another in the past, so it’s not a totally imaginary issue.
But the thing is, it’s not like the team is preparing for a specific opponent right now. There isn’t a super secret scheme in the works that could change the very face of the NFL. At the moment, the team is competing against itself to get ready for the season at large. This is a young team going through the basics, finding roles for new players, and seeing what they can put together. That’s not to say it isn’t important work and that new concepts aren’t being implemented, but these preseason activities aren’t the masterclass of football execution.
Oh, and if Family Night is so super secret, why is it open to over 70,000 fans and still broadcast in a handful of areas, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Alaska? They don’t have spies there? A rival team could easily pay the $10 entry fee to attend the event or tune in from one of the few broadcasting areas.
Or they could take to the digital sea of piracy, as many Packers fans had to do. It wasn’t exactly hard to find clips of the night’s biggest moments. Plus, Packers fandom is filled with talented and dedicated writers live-tweeting (or X-ing now I, guess?) the event.
The broadcast itself wasn’t even particularly informative, according to those who watched it. The broadcast team focused on interviewing players and coaches rather than showing the drills, asking questions about the new logo instead of showing big plays from the team’s exciting young players.
To top it all off, the next day, the team’s official YouTube channel was filled with clips from the event. What happened to the competitive disadvantage?
From a marketing and money-making point of view, not broadcasting the event was a missed opportunity. With over 70,000 people in attendance, it’s not like it was a closed-off event. Showing the proceedings to a worldwide audience could have created incredible buzz for this young team and bring in more advertising opportunities. Other teams use big plays from practice to draw in hype, even though it could be a “competitive disadvantage.” Why can’t the Packers?
The Packers’ social media team in general feels handicapped by leadership. Even David Bakhtiari has called out the unit for its lack of exciting content.
Is this something that could change once Green Bay phases Mark Murphy out? The Packers have a required retirement age, which is quickly approaching for Murphy. Green Bay’s president has done a lot of good for the fanbase, including developing Titletown District and landing the draft in 2025, but it’s fair to wonder if he’s the cause of this dated social media mindset.
Green Bay loves to talk about its publicly owned nature. Still, it isn’t always easy to be an out-of-state fan, let alone an out-of-the-country fan. Family Night is a chance to open the digital doors to the entire Packer “Family,” but the outdated mindset makes it a bafflingly difficult event to witness instead. Hopefully, this is something the team reevaluates as it heads toward a new era of leadership.
