The Green Bay Packers' preseason schedule is highlighted by a nationally televised contest at the Indianapolis Colts, one of two preseason games against 2010 playoff teams. The preliminary schedule was communicated by the National Football League on Tuesday.
Aug. 11-15 (time TBA)
at Cleveland Browns
TV: WFRV/state
Aug. 18-22 (time TBA)
ARIZONA CARDINALS (Gold pkg.)
TV: WFRV/state
Midwest Shrine Game
Aug. 26 (7 p.m.)
at Indianapolis Colts
TV: CBS
Sept. 1-2 (time TBA)
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
TV: WFRV/state
Bishop's Charities Game
Specific dates and times to be announced
The Packers open the preseason against the Cleveland Browns for the third straight year, this time at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The preseason meetings between the teams the past two years were at Lambeau Field, and this will be Green Bay's first preseason trip to Cleveland since 2003.
In Week 2 of the preseason, Green Bay will host the Arizona Cardinals. This will be the Cardinals' first preseason visit to Lambeau Field since 1978, when the team was based in St. Louis. The game is designated as the 62nd annual Upper Midwest Shrine Game, a tradition which began in 1950 and has raised more than $3.1 million for the Midwest Shrine's burn centers and hospitals for crippled children. The Packers have won nine of the last 12 in the Shrine series.
CBS will broadcast the Colts contest in Week 3 to a national TV audience, the Packers' first-ever game at Lucas Oil Stadium and their first preseason trip to Indianapolis since 1996. This is the second straight year that Indianapolis and Green Bay have squared off in the preseason on national TV. Over the past 19 preseasons, the Packers have appeared on national TV at least once in 18 of those years.
The preseason concludes with a home contest against the Kansas City Chiefs, the second straight year the teams have met in the preseason finale. The Packers last hosted the Chiefs in a preseason contest in Green Bay in 1992. Also, the Kansas City game marks the 51st annual Bishop's Charities Game, a charitable contest initiated in 1961 by Vince Lombardi and the Diocese of Green Bay that has raised more than $3.4 million to date.
Except for the Indianapolis game, the exact dates and times for the remaining three Packers' preseason contests are to be determined. Those games will be produced by CBS Sports and aired on Green Bay's WFRV-TV (Ch. 5), in conjunction with Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV, over a 10-station network throughout the state of Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, Northeastern Minnesota and the Quad Cities in Iowa.
In addition to WFRV-TV and WTMJ-TV, the games are televised over WKOW/ABC, Madison, Wis.; WAOW/ABC, Wausau/Rhinelander, Wis.; WXOW/ABC, La Crosse, Wis.; WQOW/ABC, Eau Claire, Wis.; WYOW/ABC, Eagle River, Wis.; WJMN/CBS, Marquette, Mich.; KQDS-TV/FOX, Duluth, Minn.; and KGCW/CW, Quad Cities in Iowa.
The preseason broadcast team includes CBS' Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Rich Gannon (analyst), Ross Schneiderman (producer) and Suzanne Smith (director).
The league is expected to release the regular-season schedule later this month.
