The Raiders will host the Packers tomorrow night for a preseason game in Winnipeg, and Investors Group Field "has been completely transformed into Raider Nation," according to Devon Shewchuk of the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS. On Ice Entertainment has been a "driving force in helping bring the NFL to Winnipeg." Plenty of "transformations have been made to IG Field in preparation" for the game, which have in turn "meant some major profit for a handful of local companies." New goalposts were "anchored and secured to the field," the anchoring alone costing about $15,000. The NFLPA "insists the whole field is turfed, to prevent any athlete from slipping in their cleats on the asphalt," which cost about an extra $75,000. When adding on the "field prep and repainting of the lines and end zones, that’s another" cost of about $56,000. The communications system "used for communicating on the sidelines and with the players cost" $330,000 to bring in (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 8/21). In Green Bay, Richard Ryman notes despite "reducing prices for some end zone seats to about $70" last week, there still are "many unclaimed tickets in the 33,000-seat IG Field." Tickets "were as low as $57 Monday on some secondary market ticket sites" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 8/20).
