Wisconsin and LSU Are Close to Agreement on Lambeau Field Game

A few weeks ago, news came out about the possibility of the Wisconsin Badgers and LSU Tigers playing a home-and-home series (of sorts) in NFL stadiums close to each school. The report was that Wisconsin would travel to Reliant Stadium in Houston in 2014, while LSU would play the Badgers in Lambeau Field some time later on. That deal is now nearly done.

CBS Sports' Jeremy Fowler spoke to LSU's athletic director Joe Alleva this week:

Nothing is finalized but a deal is close, per Alleva. The likeliest year for the Lambeau game is 2017 ... Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez was out of the office Wednesday and not immediately available for comment.

Mark late August or early September of 2017 down on your calendars now, everyone (do it in pencil, though). The reports of this possibility leaked out a while back, but Alvarez was quick to downplay them. With his partner at LSU now confirming that this is wrapping up, it seems that despite no solid plans at last report, talks have been ongoing in recent weeks.

As with most out-of-conference college football games, especially between strong programs from large conferences, the game would likely take place early in the season. The game in Houston was reported to be scheduled for the opening week of the year, which would put it a full week before the NFL season starts. If this is the case, one could imagine that the game at Lambeau would be scheduled for opening week as well.

Another interesting factor is the distance from home for each school. Lambeau Field is about 135 miles from Camp Randall Stadium, or about a 2.5 hour drive (keeping in mind the speed trap on Highway 26 in Rosendale). Reliant Stadium is about twice that distance, measuring about 275 miles down I-10 from Death Valley.

To our knowledge, this would be the first college football game played at Lambeau. It hosted the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic in February 2006, when the Wisconsin men's hockey team defeated Ohio State 4-2. The Packers have played preseason games at Camp Randall Stadium in the past, most recently in 1999.