I don't think they alienated the Milwaukee fan base. They had to leave County Stadium it was a dump and not suited to play games at any longer. It was tore down less then a decade after they left there. I think the people who have the Milwaukee package that live down in that area just don't want to often drive 2 hours one way to a game and figure it's easier to make a buck off selling them.
Since the rebuild of Lambeau the area has seen a lot of new buildings and updates. This all is helping the city with more property taxes coming in. There is the old saying don't bite the hand that feeds you. Right now it seems the city wants to take a bite out of the Packers. Without the Packers Green Bay would just be another ho hum city that outside of the state of Wisconsin no one would not know it even existed. The Green Bay area makes 10's of millions of dollars a year based on the Packers. It probably would be the one city that benefits from having a updated stadium around it helping it drive people to games and attend other functions year round.
Milwaukee Packer fans wanted games to continue in Milwaukee. They did not want to have them moved back to Green Bay. To a lot of them, it was like they were being abandoned after helping them make it through tough times. Logistics makes it difficult for a lot of those season ticket holders to make it to games on a regular basis, so they sell their tickets at a hefty price to people from other teams. I can't tell you how much, but I can say just by observation that it's several times more prevalent for those tickets to end up in the hands of fans from outside the Packer sphere than those being sold by Packer fans who have the Green Bay package.
The Mayor of Green Bay, and the bean counters are saying that renegotiation of a lease without better terms would cost the community millions of dollars. I don't doubt that for a moment. With the monumental changes in costs over the last 20 years alone, it's difficult not understanding that a lease needs to be changed to meet the needs on a regular basis.
I'm not saying that Genrich, or anyone else is right or wrong. I totally disagree with him and the council about moving the Heritage Trail. That is totally unacceptable. If I was in GB, and a voter there, I'd definitely be pushing to stop it from happening. But I'm afraid the city and the team have both turned to wanting to try every situation in the court of public opinion, instead of sitting down and hammering out a deal which will benefit both sides.
I have to go back to one prime thing everyone should remember. The Packers are a publicly traded non-profit organization, and they're main purpose of existence is to provide entertainment, and be part of furthering the community. Sometimes I think the organization forgets that's their mission, and begins thinking a little too much like a major corporation that looks at the people as nothing more than worker ants.
Over the years, I've listened to people complain about how Murphy did this and that, changing the way the Packers were run. They voiced displeasure over paying license fees for seats, many losing their season tickets because they couldn't afford to pay it. I wonder just how many fans from over the years when we were perpetual losers, and we put our money into them, to support them, have been alienated? I think it's a lot more than people might imagine.
I don't want to argue this point. I don't agree or disagree with either side. I just think that the Packers are being extremely foolish trying to make this a situation that plays out in the court of public opinion, because the opinions against the city in favor of the Packers, is more from outsiders, not the people of Green Bay. It's obvious how they believe, because they elected these officials, and they pretty much knew what was expected of them.
I'm done! Any further discussion is without me. I've stated my piece. Here's an article from the Press Gazette. It's quite generic, but it gives somewhat of a picture of how things stand.
Green Bay Packers, city battle over current Lambeau Field lease and over coming to agreement on long-term extension.
www.greenbaypressgazette.com
