Powerful Statement at Entry to Packers’ ‘Beautiful’ New Locker Room

“I was amazed,” Love said. “Obviously, we knew throughout OTAs that they’ve been building this new locker room and putting a lot of work into it, but this is completely different than the locker room we were in before, and it’s very cool. Very high tech, everything’s very nice in here, so we’re definitely blessed being in here.”

Added running back Josh Jacobs: “Man, it’s amazing. It’s a lot different, man. It just makes coming to work, even on them harder days, it makes it feel not as hard. You’re coming into something where you feel comfortable. You can sit down and relax and they have everything you need here. So, I think that’s definitely huge for your mental.”

Of course, a locker room has never won a game, let alone a Super Bowl.

“I think it’s nice but, like I told our guys, it gives us zero wins,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “You got to go out there. Nothing’s changing with that football field. You got to go do it out there. Although it is a great luxury, I just want our guys to understand, (and) I told them yesterday, we got all these sexy facilities, but understand there’s nothing sexy about the process. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, pain to get to where you want to go. Hopefully, at the end of it, there’s a payoff.” 

There is a daily reminder of that payoff.

There is a hallway that connects the locker room to the field. On the field side of that hallway are green-and-yellow banners representing each of the team’s 13 NFL championships. Nearest the locker room, there is a banner for 1996 and 2010, the last two Super Bowl wins. Right at the entryway, there’s an empty banner, just waiting for the next Super Bowl victory.

New Packers receiver Mecole Hardman won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs. He knows what a championship team is all about, and that grind starts at training camp.

“It’s just building that brotherhood, that bond with everybody,” he said. “Establishing the standard and your goals and knowing when you go out there to practice, knowing what we trying to accomplish, I think that’s in this locker room. Everybody knows what’s the goal at hand and what we got to do to achieve that goal. 

“Since I got here, all I see is everybody working very hard, so that’s a good sign. Everybody willing to work, everybody wants to work, and everybody got the same goal, and that’s what you need.”