Connect with us

Sports

These are the arenas and stadiums that Wisconsin sports teams have called home, past and present

Published

5 months ago

on

These are the arenas and stadiums that Wisconsin sports teams have called home, past and present

play

Fiserv Forum gets the national spotlight this week with the arrival of the Republican National Convention, which also is making use of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena right down the street. The venues used to have a third stadium situated between them, the Bradley Center, creating an entire series of downtown stadium blocks on Phillips Avenue.

Hop on the interstate that cuts through downtown, and you’ll see the towering spires of the American Family Field roof rising into the air, where the Milwaukee Brewers are playing below. Neither Milwaukee pro-sports venue, however, is more iconic than Wisconsin’s most hallowed stadium, historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

These are the venues that the major pro sports teams (and colleges) called home over the years.

Lambeau Field

  • Location: 1265 Lombardi Ave., Green Bay
  • Home to: Green Bay Packers (National Football League)
  • Championship teams: 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1996, 2010
  • Opened: 1957
  • Capacity: 81,441
  • Also known as: City Stadium (1957-64)

One of the greatest venues in all of professional sports, the “Frozen Tundra” has been home to one of football’s iconic franchises, playing in the relatively tiny hamlet of Green Bay (population of roughly 106,000) and selling out at such a clip that fans famously sit on a season-ticket waiting list for decades.

The building has undergone multiple renovations, including one finished in 2015, and has evolved from a corrugated-green perimeter to a stately building of brick and glass, surrounded by tailgate-friendly lots and neighborhoods.

The venue was home to the 1967 Ice Bowl, one of the most legendary games in NFL history.

City Stadium

  • Location: 1500 E. Walnut St., Green Bay
  • Home to: Green Bay Packers
  • Championship teams: 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944
  • Opened: 1925
  • Team left: 1956

Today, it’s the home field for Green Bay East High School, a downsized version of its former self when it served as home to the Packers. The once horseshoe-shaped stadium grew from a roughly 5,000-seat venue in 1925 to 25,000 before the Packers abandoned it after the 1956 season. While Green Bay won six NFL titles when City Stadium was its home, the venue never hosted a championship game. Green Bay served as host to the title game in 1939 but played in West Allis, which had a greater capacity at the state fairgrounds.

American Family Field

  • Location: 1 Brewers Way, Milwaukee
  • Home to: Milwaukee Brewers (Major League Baseball)
  • Championship teams: None
  • Opened: 2001
  • Capacity: 41,900
  • Also known as: Miller Park (2001-20)

Though construction of the venue was plagued by a crane accident that killed three workers and delayed opening by a year, its completion marked a new era for Brewers baseball. The retractable roof has helped generate a spike in attendance that places the smallest market in the league among the top half in attendance and an organization that had been to just two playoffs in three decades has been to seven postseasons in the years since.

Constructed in the Menomonee Valley adjacent to old Milwaukee County Stadium before its deconstruction, the venue is surrounded by ample parking lots, enabling fans to participate in the ages-old tailgating custom. And while many fans still can’t get over the name change that dissolved the marriage of a distinctly Milwaukee brand in Miller with the baseball team, it remains one of the state’s most impressive architectural feats.

Milwaukee County Stadium

  • Location: 201 S. 46th St., Milwaukee
  • Home to: Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers (Major League Baseball), Green Bay Packers (National Football League)
  • Championship teams: 1957
  • Opened: 1953
  • Closed: 2000
  • Capacity: 54,632

We don’t mention the championships won by the Green Bay Packers above, but the NFL franchise played two to four games at the venue each year from 1953 to 1994 before relocating the entirety of its home schedule to Lambeau Field. Brett Favre’s famous dive over the goal line to defeat Atlanta in 1994 marked the end of an era. The dual-city setup remains partially in place today, with the “Gold Package” season-ticket holders from Milwaukee getting two (and now sometimes three) home games per year.

But this venue was built for baseball, initially conceived for the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers but instead becoming home to the Milwaukee Braves, a franchise that had relocated from Boston. The first venue in the United States to be built entirely with public money, the stadium drew league-leading crowds and housed teams full of stars, including the great Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron. In 1954, it was portrayed on the first cover of Sports Illustrated. The Braves won the 1957 World Series over the New York Yankees and went to the seventh game of the World Series in 1958 before falling to those same Yankees. But that was the apex; the team’s competitiveness began to slowly dwindle thereafter.

When the team moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season, it left a gaping hole in the Wisconsin sports fabric.

But Bud Selig worked tirelessly to bring baseball back, and he successfully brought the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee in 1970, where they were rebranded the Brewers. The franchise reached the playoffs for the first time in 1981 and went to the World Series in 1982.

Borchert Field

  • Location: 3000 N. Eighth St., Milwaukee
  • Home to: Milwaukee Brewers (pre-1900 MLB team), Milwaukee Badgers (NFL), Green Bay Packers (NFL)
  • Championship teams: None
  • Opened: 1888
  • Closed: 1952
  • Capacity: Various
  • Also known as: Athletic Park (1888-1927)

A casualty of the new dawn of Milwaukee County Stadium, the beating heart of baseball in the city was deconstructed to surprisingly little fanfare in 1952. The venue had hosted numerous teams and legendary players, including the short-lived Milwaukee Badgers of the NFL (1922-26), the Milwaukee Bears of the Negro National League (1923), the Milwaukee Chicks of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1944) and even the Packers for one game in 1933.

The field was renamed for Otto Borchert in 1927 after Borchert, part of a prominent brewing family and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers in the American Association, died. After Borchert Field was torn down, the city replaced it with a tot lot, but only for a while. That, too, was cleared, as part of the construction of I-43: If you take the northbound on-ramp or southbound off-ramp at Locust Street, you’re in “Borchert’s Orchard,” which was a colloquial name for the venue.

The Brewers (the version before the current team that moved to Milwaukee in 1970) played only briefly as a major-league team in 1891 — even then, relocated to the new league in August of that season — and otherwise existed as a minor-league franchise. That squad lasted in any capacity only from 1886 to 1892, but the field continued to host games and welcomed barnstormers.

Wisconsin State Fair Park

  • Location: 640 S. 84th St., West Allis
  • Home to: Green Bay Packers (1934-1951), auto racing
  • Championship teams: 1936, 1939, 1944
  • Opened: 1891
  • Team left: 1951
  • Capacity: Various

Using Packers historian Cliff Christl as a guide, the field where the Packers played a couple games a year was laid out in front of the racetrack’s old concrete grandstand, and the seating arrangements underwent a number of reconstructions. But by 1939, capacity was up to 24,700, with more seats added for the 1939 championship game, bringing capacity to 32,000 for a game in which the Packers defeated the New York Giants. Packers players recalled being so far from the seating areas that they couldn’t even hear the fan reactions.

The Packers left the fairgrounds to play their Milwaukee slate at County Stadium, but when the stadium didn’t open in 1952, the team played one season at Marquette Stadium at 35th and West Clybourn, a venue first built in 1924 for Marquette University football teams.

The state fair grounds are also home to the Milwaukee Mile Speedway, a mile oval track that first opened in 1903 as a dirt track and was paved in 1954. The venue has been home to a number of IndyCar and NASCAR series races over the years, including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023 and 2024 and IndyCar in 2024 and 2025.

UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena

  • Location: 400 W. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee
  • Home to: Milwaukee Hawks (1951-55), Milwaukee Bucks (1968-88), Marquette men’s basketball (1974-88), UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball (1992-98, 2003-12, 2013-present)
  • Championship teams: 1971 (Bucks), 1977 (Marquette)
  • Opened: 1950
  • Capacity: 12,700
  • Also known as: Milwaukee Arena (1950-1974), Milwaukee Exposition Convention Center and Arena (MECCA, 1974-1995), Wisconsin Center Arena (1995-2000), U.S. Cellular Arena (2000-2014)

With all due respect to UW-Milwaukee, this venue may forever be known as the MECCA. It’s the place where the high-flying Bucks first began their tenure with legendary big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who led the fledgling franchise to an NBA title in 1971. It’s where Marquette and colorful coach Al McGuire built an empire of their own. It’s the building that housed the famous gaudy golden floor designed by artist Robert Indiana.

Though the big-league teams have relocated to the bigger, brighter venue to the north, it’s still where you can find the Milwaukee Admirals minor-league hockey and Milwaukee Wave professional indoor soccer squads. The Wave has won four of its seven championships during its stay, and the Admirals have two championships (although neither while calling the current venue home).

The NBA’s Milwaukee Hawks with rookie of the year and future NBA Hall of Famer Bob Pettit played there in the building’s early years, and the UWM men’s basketball team still plays home games there.

Bradley Center

  • Location: 1001 N. Phillips Ave. (previously Fourth Street)
  • Home to: Milwaukee Bucks (National Basketball Association, 1988-2018), Marquette men’s basketball team (NCAA Division I, 1988-2018)
  • Championship teams: None
  • Opened: 1988
  • Closed: 2018
  • Capacity: 18,633
  • Also known as: BMO Harris Bradley Center

In 1985, an astonishing thing happened: the city of Milwaukee was gifted a sports arena.

It was essentially a giant donation from Jane Pettit, whose father, Harry Lynde Bradley, had been one of the founders of Allen-Bradley. In February 1985, Rockwell International purchased Allen-Bradley for more than $1.6 billion, the largest acquisition in Wisconsin history, and the coffers of the newly established Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation were suddenly very full. As the deal was heading toward completion, James Fitzgerald announced Feb. 5 he was going to sell the Milwaukee Bucks.

On March 1, 1985, Wisconsin businessman Herb Kohl was announced as the buyer, and four days later, the Pettits said they’d finance the construction of an arena and give it to Milwaukee. The price tag of the Bradley Center initially was announced in the ballpark of $30 million to $40 million, believed to be the largest donation to the community in Milwaukee history. It wound up being $90 million.

Though hockey was the Pettits’ first love, Milwaukee never succeeded in attracting an NHL franchise to the venue. Instead, the Bradley Center served as home to the Bucks, Milwaukee Admirals minor-league hockey team, Marquette men’s basketball team, Milwaukee Wave professional indoor soccer and two incarnations of the Milwaukee Mustangs Arena Football League team.

Fiserv Forum, opened in 2018, provided a step forward once the Bradley Center had grown out-of-date. Oddly enough, the Bradley Center did not outlive the stadium it replaced, the neighboring Milwaukee Arena that became the Bucks’ first home when the franchise moved to town. That venue, today the UW-Milwaukee Arena, still stands, years after the Bradley Center was razed.

Camp Randall Stadium

  • Location: 1440 Monroe St., Madison
  • Home to: Wisconsin Badgers football (NCAA Division I)
  • Championship teams: None
  • Opened: 1917
  • Capacity: 80,321

The facility has undergone numerous renovations over the years, including a big one that finished in 2022, but it has remained the beating heart of Wisconsin athletics for generations. Constructed on the grounds of a former Union army training camp during the Civil War, the land was used by UW athletics teams even before 1900 before the concrete-and-steel stadium was first constructed.

Fans perform “Jump Around” after the third quarter of football games, the most nationally recognizable component of the stadium’s gameday atmosphere, and the venue also hosts large-scale events like graduation. The Packers have played preseason games there, and the grounds also serve as home to the Badgers’ athletic offices and football practice facility.

University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse

  • Location: 1450 Monroe St., Madison
  • Home to: Wisconsin Badgers basketball (NCAA Division I, 1930-1998), Wisconsin Badgers women’s volleyball (NCAA Division I), Wisconsin Badgers wrestling (NCAA Division I)
  • Championship teams: 1941 (UW men’s basketball), 2021 (women’s volleyball)
  • Opened: 1930
  • Capacity: 7,540

Directly connected to Camp Randall Stadium is another legendary building, one that served as home to the men’s and women’s basketball teams until the construction of the Kohl Center, which opened in 1998. Now, it’s primarily recognized as the home to the championship-caliber women’s volleyball team at UW but has hosted Badgers wrestling since the 1930s and numerous high school state events in basketball and wrestling.

Kohl Center

  • Location: 601 W. Dayton St., Madison
  • Home to: Wisconsin Badgers basketball (NCAA Division I), Wisconsin Badgers hockey (NCAA Division I)
  • Championship teams: 2006 (UW men’s and women’s hockey), 2007, 2009, 2011 (UW women’s hockey)
  • Opened: 1998
  • Capacity: 17.287

Named for former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, who donated $25 million to the project, the venue has become home to Badgers basketball and men’s hockey as well as women’s hockey before that program moved to newly opened LaBahn Ice Arena in 2012. It’s also been home to numerous high school state basketball tournaments.

More: A look back at the most-hyped games in Kohl Center history, including Purdue against Wisconsin on Tuesday

Other major sports venues in Wisconsin

  • ABC Supply Stadium (217 Shirland Ave., Beloit). Home to the Class A Beloit Sky Carp (currently affiliated with the Miami Marlins), the venue opened in 2021. Once known as the Beloit Snappers, the team was affiliated with the Brewers from 1982-2004.
  • Alliant Energy Center (1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison). Formerly known as the Dane County Coliseum, the venue has as much history as any building in Wisconsin, formerly the home to Wisconsin men’s hockey from 1967-98 (the program won national titles in 1973, 1977, 1981, 1983 and 1990). The Milwaukee Bucks routinely played games there in the early years of the franchise, including playoff games (during a championship run, no less).
  • Al McGuire Center (770 N. 12th St., Milwaukee). Opened in 2004, the on-campus venue provides an intimate environment for Marquette women’s basketball and volleyball.
  • Bellevue Park and Hagermeister Park (Green Bay). Beginning in 1919, the fledgling Packers began playing their games at Hagermeister Park, a plot of land owned by the Hagermeister Realty Co. and now home to Green Bay East High School. In the four years that the Packers played at Hagemeister, it was in three different settings. When construction of the school began, the team played two seasons at Bellevue Park, across the East River from Hagemeister Park, just east of the Hagemeister Brewery, before moving back to the previous site and its newly built City Stadium.
  • Blackwolf Run (1111 W. Riverside Drive, Kohler). Established in 1988, it’s one of several elite golf courses in the state, and it has twice hosted the U.S. Women’s Open.
  • Erin Hills Golf Course (7168 County Road O, Erin/Hartford). Opened in 2006, it hosted the 2017 U.S. Open major men’s golf tournament.
  • Fox Cities Stadium (2400 N. Casaloma Drive, Appleton). It’s been home to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Class A) baseball since it opened in 1995; the franchise has been affiliated with the Brewers since 2009.
  • LaBahn Arena (105 E. Campus Mall, Madison). The home of Wisconsin’s highly successful women’s ice hockey team was opened in 2012. The Badgers won national titles in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
  • Pettit National Ice Center (500 South 84th St., Milwaukee). The ice skating facility often serves as home to national events, including the U.S. Olympic speedskating trials.
  • Resch Center (820 Armed Forces Drive, Ashwaubenon). Across the street from Lambeau Field, it serves as home to the Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team.
  • Road America (N7390 Highway 67, Elkhart Lake). The road course has hosted major auto races since the 1950s and has featured high-level races from a number of circuits, including IndyCar and NASCAR.
  • Whistling Straits (N8501 Lakeshore Road, Sheboygan). Major events hosted there have included three PGA Championships, the U.S. Senior Open and the 2021 Ryder Cup.
Related Topics:
Continue Reading