GREEN BAY, Wis. — Tuesday evening, the Packers will release their schedule for the 2025-26 NFL season.
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It's a chance for ticket Gold Package season ticket holders to see which games they'll be able to attend. Traditionally, those games are the second and fifth home games of the year.
But for some long-time holders, this year's change in Packer's policy has taken their privileges away.
Back in February, the Packers announced they'd be revoking season tickets from holders who had sold 100% of their tickets for multiple years on secondary markets.
The team said the change impacts less than 1% of the 40,000 season ticket holders.
One of those was Rick Altstadt.
He's been watching the Green and Gold for 50 years. His parents bought season tickets before 1994, when the team moved their two annual Milwaukee County Stadium games to Lambeau.
"The Packers are in my blood," Rick told TMJ4.
READ ALSO: Season ticket holders react to Packers cracking down on ticket-selling
He said he hadn't been to a game for four years. His parents had gotten sick in their older age. His father with prostate cancer, and his mother with dementia issues. Both have passed away in recent years. He now lives in Nevada, and so his family sold the tickets on Ticketmaster.
When he got a letter from the Packers back in February, he was shocked. The letter said the organization would not renew the season tickets associated with his parents' account. Rick said this was the first time he heard about the issue.
"Our goal here is simple: we want Lambeau filled with Packers fans," read the letter.
The Packers gave ticket holders the option to appeal, which Rick did quickly. His appeal mentioned how his parents had been to games for decades but couldn't anymore because of their health. He told the Packers, if they gave him one more year, he'd make sure to fill the seats with Packers fans.
"My sisters and I want to continue to honor our parent's love of and spirit for the Packers by continuing their legacy as not only Packers season ticket holders but as either in person fans ourselves, or if for some reason we can't make a game, by giving that game's ticket(s) to other family members or friends who assure us that they will cheer only for the Green & Gold in a way like our parents did," Rick wrote to the Packers.
The Packers denied the appeal, saying it was an organizational decision to enhance the team's home-field advantage.
"If you give those fans the opportunity to provide their rationale for why something occurred, listen to that and at least respond to that on a specific level and not in a form letter," Altstadt said.
TMJ4 reached out to the Packers for an interview about Rick's situation.
While they were not able to accommodate an interview, a spokesperson for the organization provided a statement.
“The organization's non-renewal exercise has taken place in recent years to ensure Packers season tickets are being used as intended: for the personal use of the ticket holder (including family, friends, etc.). We've communicated with the individual account holders whose tickets were not renewed and provided them with an opportunity to share whether they had extenuating circumstances to explain why they had not utilized their tickets as intended. In some cases, account holders had their tickets renewed, and in other cases, they did not. With consideration toward the process and privacy of all account holders, no additional information will be available.”
With the season just four months away, Rick said it might be hard to root for the team with their recent decision.
“I feel like they hurt me, they hurt my family, and I’m going to try to not be a Packers fan," Rick said.
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