No Packers cheerleaders for Super Bowl

Some say it wouldn’t be a football game at Cowboys Stadium without cheerleaders, but that is exactly what it will be on Super Bowl Sunday.

“We put a lot of work and effort into the season so to hear we couldn’t travel with them to the Super Bowl, it was pretty devastating,” said Gabrielle Engel, a junior on UW-Green Bay’s cheer squad.

The Packers have UW-Green Bay and St. Norbert cheer squads at Lambeau home games. The team says while it appreciates what they bring to the Lambeau Field experience, they are not part of the road plan.

“Every home game we’re at, every pre season game, if the Packers ask us to do something we’ll go out and do it for them,” said Alex Klaus, a fifth-year student at UW-Green Bay.

For St. Norbert, there were no Super Bowl expectations. Athletic Director Tim Bald just appreciates having the college cheer squad at Packers home games.

“What other teams in the NFL have a opportunity to do that?” said Bald. “College kids, we look at it as a positive in that regard rather than something that we can’t do.”

“We could have added something to the game and maybe even to the players to help them play better and win the Super Bowl,” said Engel.

Paying their own way, the cheer squads went to Super Bowls 31 and 32. UWGB cheer members were willing to do the same to travel to Dallas.

Both squads say they now look forward to getting back on Lambeau Field next year.

The Packers and Steelers are two of six teams in the NFL without professional cheerleaders.

The Packers used to have a professional cheer squad. It disbanded in 1988.