Though the city currently has no National Football League (NFL) team, Milwaukee is considered a home market for the Green Bay Packers.
[5][6][7] The Packers played games in Milwaukee to attract more fans and revenue while the team's then-official home, City Stadium, remained inadequate compared to other NFL venues.
Threats by the league to relocate the Packers permanently to Milwaukee caused the team to replace City Stadium with Lambeau Field.
By 1995, expansions to Lambeau Field combined with changing league economics made it feasible for the team to remain in Green Bay full time.
[16] A quarter-mile dirt track formerly located in the infield of the Milwaukee Mile racetrack at the state fairgrounds was also used as a football stadium, informally known as the "Dairy Bowl".
[17] It hosted the Green Bay Packers from 1934 through 1951, including the NFL championship game in 1939, a 27–0 shutout of the New York Giants on December 10 to secure a fifth league title.
By 1995, multiple renovations to Lambeau Field made it more lucrative for the Packers to play their full home slate in Green Bay again for the first time since 1932.
[22] The Packers' final game in Milwaukee was a 21–17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on December 18, 1994;[33] with 14 seconds left, the winning 9-yard touchdown run was scored by quarterback Brett Favre.
[39][40][41][42][43] It was the first year that the NFL playoffs expanded to a four teams, and Green Bay had home field advantage for both rounds, then awarded by rotation.
[45] Nonetheless, city officials still pursued an AFL franchise, possibly to play at Marquette Stadium, but the AFL–NFL merger effectively quashed any chances of Milwaukee landing its own team.
[45] The Canadian Football League also attempted to put a team in Milwaukee County Stadium following the Packers' departure in 1994, but despite the enthusiastic backing of commissioner Larry Smith and stable ownership in Marvin Fishman, opposition from the Brewers torpedoed the plan.
[33][47] Both teams occupied the east sideline on the outfield side, separated by a piece of tape, to give the majority of seats an unobstructed view.
[48][49] For a short time between September and November 1994, the station carried Green Bay Packers games in the market through the network's NFC package as a lame-duck affiliate, though without any pre-game programming, the only break in network coverage by WITI of the team since the 1977 affiliation switch between WISN and WITI, which took place in the off-season.