GREEN BAY (NBC26) — A high school business teacher in rural northern Colorado has created an idea for a LEGO replica of Lambeau Field — and he's pitching the idea to the plastic brick company for commercial use.
- Click this link to support the idea on LEGO's website — it needs 10,000 supporter in the next 500 days in order to make it to the "review" stage
- The teacher says if the idea reaches that stage, it would be up against 30-40 other ideas, of which only two or three are selected to become LEGO sets
- Video introduces you to the high school teacher, shows the renderings of the smaller LEGO Lambeau, and shows a comparison to the unique 130,000-piece LEGO Lambeau that is displayed at Green Bay's Neville Museum
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details added for web)
The LEGO Lambeau Field in the Neville Public Museum's lobby is so big, it probably wouldn't fit in your house. But a much smaller, desk-sized version could be coming to a store near you — if it gets some help from Packers fans.
"It's 130,000 pieces," exhibitions manager Devyn McIlraith said of the Neville's replica. "It was built by 15 MSOE students from Milwaukee [over the course of a semester in 2013]."
"One inch here is 72 inches at regular Lambeau Field," added Katy Maier, the Neville foundation's development and events coordinator.
The Neville's version is massive, awing Packers shareholders like these ones — but it's one of a kind.
"Would you think of buying a smaller desk version of this?" NBC 26 asked.
"I think absolutely," museum visitor (and Packers season ticket holder) Heidi Martin said.
And now, that smaller LEGO Lambeau is in the works, from an unlikely source.
"My toddler and I will play LEGO together," Cody Brunelle said.
Brunelle is a LEGO enthusiast and high school teacher, from the town of Ault in northern Colorado.
He was not raised a Packers fan, but thinks Lambeau should be LEGO's first publicly available NFL stadium replica.
"I feel like no other team has a deeper history than Green Bay — like, you've got a whole museum built into the stadium," he said.
Brunelle made his version — which would be about 10 by 10 inches in surface — using online software, called Stud.io and BrickLink.
"I still built it piece-by-piece, and put them where I felt like I needed to, and refined it a lot," he said.
He's submitted ideas for new sets to LEGO before, including Wrigley Field and Madison Square Garden replicas — but none has gained traction like this one, which has racked up more than 1,500 supporters on LEGO's Ideas site.
"Over half of those supporters have happened in the last three days, which is crazy to me," he said.
Brunelle needs 10000 supporters for LEGO to move it to the review stage — and he's still refining the details.
"Somebody on the website mentioned that I need to include a Green Bay fan with a Cheesehead, which I feel like is a great idea," he said.
Judging by the LEGO Lambeau hype at the Neville, the staff thinks a personal version would fly off the shelves.
"I know lots of people who are LEGO fans and also Packer fans," McIlraith said.
"Yeah, lots of crossover, for sure," Maier added.
Brunelle says, even if the design makes it to the review stage, only a handful of those are chosen to be sold to the masses, so he needs more support.
