Why Is Notre Dame Playing at Lambeau Field? The Backstory

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Notre Dame and Wisconsin will play a college football game at Lambeau Field on Sunday, Sept. 6 – and if that sentence sounds strange, the explanation is six years old. This is the COVID makeup game: the Lambeau date the two schools originally scheduled for 2020, wiped out when that season’s schedules collapsed, finally being played on 2026’s opening weekend.

There’s also a deeper reason the pairing feels right. The man the stadium is named for – Curly Lambeau, co-founder of the Packers – played fullback at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne before coming home to Green Bay. A century later, Rockne’s program plays its first game in his player’s house.

Here’s the full backstory, Lambeau’s thin college football history, and why a nominal neutral site will sound distinctly like a Wisconsin home game.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL EXPLAINERS
Why Is Notre Dame Playing at Lambeau Field?
The COVID makeup, the Curly Lambeau link, and Sept. 6
THE GAME
ND vs. Wisconsin
Sunday, Sept. 6 – NBC and Peacock
THE VENUE
Lambeau Field
Green Bay – the Packers’ home since 1957
THE BACKSTORY
COVID makeup
The 2020 Lambeau date, finally played
THE FOUNDER LINK
Curly Lambeau
Played at Notre Dame under Rockne
Why this game is at Lambeau
The short history of a long-delayed matchup
Piece Detail
The original plan Notre Dame and Wisconsin scheduled a neutral-site series: Lambeau Field in 2020, Soldier Field in 2021
What happened The 2020 Lambeau game was wiped out by COVID schedule changes – the Soldier Field game went ahead in 2021, with Notre Dame winning big
The makeup The Lambeau date finally lands Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026 – opening weekend, on NBC and Peacock
Whose home game? It’s effectively Wisconsin’s – Green Bay is Badgers country, two hours from Madison, and the crowd will lean red
Lambeau Field and college football
A rarer stage than you’d think
Fact Detail
The only precedent LSU vs. Wisconsin, September 2016 – the first college game in the stadium’s modern history; Wisconsin upset a top-five LSU, 16-14
The founder’s secret Curly Lambeau – who co-founded the Packers and gave the stadium its name – played fullback at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne before returning home to Green Bay
Why it’s rare Lambeau’s field and calendar belong to the Packers – college games require the NFL schedule, the turf calendar and a September date to align
The occasion A Sunday game works because Week 1 of the NFL doesn’t start until Sept. 9 – college gets Lambeau on an NFL-free weekend
WHY THIS MATCHUP SINGS
The Rockne loop
Notre Dame playing in a stadium named for a Rockne player is the kind of historical rhyme college football does best – Lambeau left South Bend and built the NFL’s most storied franchise.
Border-state stakes
Notre Dame recruits Wisconsin hard and the fanbases overlap across the upper Midwest – this is a regional grudge dressed as a neutral-site event.
Opening-weekend weight
Both teams open their seasons with it – a Sunday standalone window on NBC means the whole sport watches one game.

The Six-Year Detour

The original home-and-home-style plan put Wisconsin and Notre Dame at Lambeau in 2020 and Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2021. COVID erased the first; the second went ahead, and Notre Dame won it comfortably. The Lambeau leg then migrated across the schedule until it found this slot: Sunday of Labor Day weekend, in the NFL-free window before the pro season opens Sept. 9.

Lambeau Barely Does College

Exactly one modern college game has been played there – Wisconsin’s 16-14 upset of top-five LSU in 2016 – which makes Sunday just the second. The Packers’ field and calendar make college dates nearly impossible; an early-September Sunday with no NFL football is the rare alignment that works.

Neutral Site, Red Crowd

Green Bay sits about two hours from Madison, and 2016 proved what the building sounds like with the Badgers in it. For Notre Dame, that’s the trade: a hostile-leaning crowd in exchange for a standalone national Sunday window on NBC and Peacock, one day after the Week 0 explainer hands the sport to the full Week 1 slate.

Quick Answers

When and where can I watch?

Sunday, Sept. 6 on NBC and Peacock, from Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Is this a Wisconsin home game?

Officially a neutral-site game – practically, a Wisconsin crowd. Green Bay is deep Badgers territory.

Has Notre Dame played at Lambeau before?

No – this is the program’s first game there, in just the second modern college game the stadium has hosted.

The Bottom Line

Notre Dame is playing at Lambeau Field because a COVID-canceled 2020 date finally found its opening: Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, against Wisconsin on NBC and Peacock. It’s only the second college game in the stadium’s modern history – played, fittingly, in a building named for a Notre Dame fullback who went home and built the Packers.