What kind of legislation could create common ground between a first-term Republican congressman from northeastern Wisconsin and a longtime Democratic senator from Madison?
Oh gosh, yeah, it’s da Packers.
Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin have introduced a bipartisan bill to ensure that every Wisconsin resident is able to watch the Green and Gold on TV, even if in a county that is considered out-of-market.
Legislation similar to this effort, called the Go Pack Go Act, has been proposed multiple times since 2018, but despite consistent support from some lawmakers, it has yet to pass the Senate Commerce Committee.
In Wisconsin, more than 415,000 people live in 13 counties that have been assigned to an out-of-state television market, either in Minnesota or Michigan. Residents in these border counties don’t receive some, or any, television broadcasts from stations in Wisconsin, meaning that they may end up being “forced to watch” the Minnesota Vikings or Detroit Lions instead of the Packers when those teams are playing at the same time. The bill would require cable and satellite TV providers to provide their Wisconsin subscribers with access to programming from stations in a Wisconsin media market.
“Nothing brings Wisconsinites together quite like the Packers,” Wied said in a statement. “The Go Pack Go Act is about making sure every Packers fan, from Douglas County to Door County, can watch their team without being forced to endure Vikings or Lions broadcasts.”
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One powerful industry group, the National Association of Broadcasters, has registered as lobbying on previous versions of the bill, though records do not indicate whether the association’s efforts were for or against.
Wied referred to the bill as “common sense, bipartisan legislation.” “If you live in the land of Lambeau, you deserve to see the Green and Gold every Sunday. No exceptions,” he said.
Baldwin echoed the sentiment. “Regardless of where you live, every Wisconsinite should be able to cheer on the Green and Gold,” Baldwin said in a statement. “But right now, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites live in communities where they could get Vikings or Lions games broadcast on their TVs instead of Packers games. It’s wrong and that’s why I’m fighting to fix it so every Packers fan across our state can watch our team play.”
On Nov. 2, the Packers, Vikings and Lions are all slated to play at the same time and on the same network. That means the cable and streams to the affected Wisconsin counties would show the Vikings or Lions instead of the Packers.
Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron and Sawyer counties lie in the Duluth-Superior media market; Barron, Burnett, Dunn, Polk, Pierce, St. Croix and Washburn counties are part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul market; and Florence County is in the Marquette, Michigan, market.
The measure goes beyond just football and a deep devotion to the Packers, Wied and Baldwin insist. In-state local broadcasts are more relevant to residents’ daily lives and help them stay informed and entertained through Wisconsin-focused programming, such as local news, information about local and state governments, and sports, the bill’s authors said.
