In a state known more for gold panning than the NFL, cheering for the green and gold is quite common.
On a recent trip to visit family in the Last Frontier state, I noticed at least four Packers mailboxes on Chena Hot Springs Road near Fairbanks and, when zipping into Fred Meyer for groceries, spotted a lot of Packers magnets and decals adorning parked cars. I rarely saw signs of people cheering for other NFL teams: instead, it was all about the Packers.
This was also apparent during my time in Anchorage, the state’s largest city.
Why, 3,300 miles away from Lambeau Field, are Alaskans more aligned with the Packers than the Seattle Seahawks (the geographically closest team)? Or the Minnesota Vikings or the San Francisco 49ers?
I made a few calls and sent off a few emails to find out.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Everyone I spoke to pointed to one person as the reason why, in recent years, there are so many Packers fans in Alaska. Daryn Colledge, an offensive guard on the Super Bowl XLV team during the 2010-2011 season, hails from North Pole, Alaska, 12 miles from Fairbanks. If his name sounds familiar, it’s also because he co-founded Three Fat Guys Winery in Sonoma with two other former Packers players: Tony Moll and Jason Spitz.
There’s been another Packers player from Alaska, too: Tom Neville, a graduate of Ben Eilson High School on the Eilson Air Force Base, 24 miles south of Fairbanks, who garnered a statewide following, according to NBC affiliate KTVF Channel 11/CBS affiliate KXDF 13 in Fairbanks. Neville, a guard who played for the Packers between 1986 and 1988. The stations also shared that during the late ’60s and early ‘70s there was a migration of young families to Alaska from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
But this fandom dates long before Neville and Colledge joined the team.
“Before the Seahawks started up in 1977 (the closest thing we’ve got to a home team), a lot of us related to teams that were playing in the snow and frigid temperatures,” says Jerry Evans, Explore Fairbanks’ public relations manager. “Trust me, the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field often looked like the fields we used to play on. That’s why I was a Vikings fan prior to 1977.”
Joan Malcheski, the Packers’ director of brand and marketing, who oversees fan engagement, agrees that the chilly weather easily unifies. “The Packers and Green Bay fans are also known for braving the weather at Lambeau Field, which people from Alaska can certainly relate to,” she says. “Enjoying the cold and snow comes naturally to us and embracing the long winter months is something we all have in common, so fans from Alaska would fit in perfectly here in Green Bay.”
In fact, in 2017, a group of Packers fans in Alaska traveled to a pre-season game at Lambeau Field for the first time, which resulted in a story aired by Green Bay’s NBC affiliate station. And, according to the Packers, there are 25 season-ticket holders in Alaska, which makes Milwaukeeans’ drive up 43 North seem like a piece of cake compared to the miles they’ll trek for a home game. Along those lines, 2,000 Packers shareholders hail from Alaskan zip codes.
Data from the Green Bay Packers’ Packers Everywhere platform (a social network for Packers fans) supports a robust Packers fan base in Alaska. According to the Green Bay Packers, more than 17,000 people in the fan database live in Alaska, a state with only 733,000 residents, and there are 30,000 Instagram and Facebook followers in the state. Anchorage is actually the 35th-highest follower count nationwide. According, to the Packers, viewership in Alaska on game days is strong, consistently delivering one of the higher ratings of all programs in the market.
Rocky Barnette, a radio announcer in Fairbanks with Magic 101.1 FM, hosts Monday Night Football promotions and events at local bars and pubs. “There’s no shortage of Packer Fans in Alaska,” he says. “In fact, whenever they do those surveys, consistently the Packers are the winners of “Alaska’s team.’”
Jack Bonney, vice president of communications at Visit Anchorage, chimed in about Packers bars. “Crossroads is a popular bar for Packers fans,” he says, “and the Peanut Farm, Anchorage’s largest sports bar, also hosts a regular contingent of Lambeau faithful as well.”
Should you find yourself in Alaska and want to connect with Packers fans, that’s easy as there are eight registered Packers bars, including Angel Creek Lodge in Two Rivers, Alaska, 50 miles from Fairbanks. With seating for only 38 patrons, there are also five rustic cabins for overnight stays.
