In a week in the Dolphins were red-faced because their cheerleader website showed more skin than normal, the Packers remain decidedly chaste.
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel took an in-depth look at the reasons the Packers remain one of six teams without an official squad of professional cheerleaders, and the conclusion is clear.
The league’s smallest and probably its coldest market is perfectly fine being old-fashioned.
“Not to be critical of anybody,” Packers president Mark Murphy said. “But you look at what some of the other teams do with their cheerleaders and I just don’t think we’d feel comfortable doing some of those things.
“I have heard complaints about our cheerleaders: ‘What do they bring? Why don’t we get modern cheerleaders? Look at all the other teams and how they use them.’
“But more (fans) say this really fits in our image in Green Bay and what we want to portray.”
The Packers do use some modestly dressed college cheerleaders from nearby St. Norbert College and Wisconsin-Green Bay, but they’re not selling skin the way some teams do (with frostbite being reason enough).
Five other teams (the Steelers, Giants, Lions, Browns and Bears) don’t have full-time cheerleaders. The Packers tried it in the past, but disbanded theirs in 1987 and have no intention of going back.
Murphy used the words “wholesome” and “quaint,” to describe the Packers’ approach.
“I think our fans are unique in that they don’t need a big circus atmosphere,” tight end Ryan Taylor said. “Because they’re football purists and enjoy the game as is.
“I don’t know that it would add anything. There are other teams that want to put on more of a show, I suppose, because they’re worried about selling tickets. There’s another team in our division that feels it has to put on a show.”
Of course, the Packers manage to put on a show on the field, unlike the Vikings, to whom Taylor was subtly referring to.
