Lambeau project on schedule and budget

GREEN BAY - The transformation at Lambeau Field is coming along, both on schedule and on budget.

And its completion will eventually mean at least a few thousand fans will be coming off the season ticket waiting list that now exceeds 80,000.

But crews say right now, it's time to focus on the $143 million task at hand.

• Photos: Lambeau Field renovation project

With the major steel work done and most of the concrete work complete, the south end zone is shaping up.

And come next season, it'll house 6,700 new seats.

"It's great to be this far along and I think what the fans see will, once they get into the stadium, they see the changes," explained Stuart Zadra, vice president of Hammes Company.  "You know, most people I talked to said its fantastic, they can imagine how that space will be once it's filled with fans and how loud it’s going to be."

So far, the team has spent around $75 million on the project.

Officials say 92 percent of those funds have been spent in Wisconsin, and 68 percent of that was spent here in Northeast Wisconsin.

That doesn't include the $13 million dollars for the new scoreboards.

"Part of our intention is to spend as much as we can here in the state and certainly in Brown County and the region as possible and we've been able to do that and we're very pleased about that," explained Packers Director of Public Affairs Aaron Popkey.

The project is also good news for the tens of thousands of people on the waiting list.

More than 3,800 fans are expected to get tickets.

Popkey says there was a fair amount of interest for a spot in the south end-zone from current ticket holders, but he says the process of who gets which seats has just begun.

"We're separating by seniority, in terms of how long they've been season ticket holders and then by the date we received the request," Popkey said. "The step after that we'll be reaching out to the current ticket holders in the bowl that are on record for a seat change request and we'll update them on what seats became available from the ticket holders moving to the new south endzone. Then we'll be reaching out to the current people on the waiting list and saying here are the seats that are available."

Popkey expects to send out the official word by the end of this fall.

Construction crews say the entire project will be done by the start of the 2013 season.

Right now, they say it's about 65 percent complete.