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Brian has made his mark in professional football both on the field and off, first as a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers from 1985-1993, and then as Head Coach of the Blizzard in 2004. In 2006 Noble became President/Owner of the Blizzard, leading an investment group in the purchase of the 4-year-old franchise. His influence paid dividends immediately. Noble’s Blizzard won their first-ever East Division Title in 2006, and advanced to ArenaCup7, the Arena Football 2 (af2) Championship Game in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to the phenomenal on-field success that the Blizzard had in 2006, Noble and the Blizzard front office team helped set new franchise records for attendance and garnered numerous more accolades, including the “Most Improved Team Operations” award from the af2 League Office. A native of Southern California, Noble first came to Wisconsin in 1985, when the Packers drafted him in the 5th round of the National Football League draft out of Arizona State. His impact was felt early when as a rookie linebacker he led the team in tackles, a feat he would accomplish a total of 4 times in his stellar 9-year career. After a knee injury ended his playing career, Noble stayed involved with the Packers over the airwaves, serving as both a radio and television announcer for Packers games. He also took his love of the outdoors to the small screen as producer and star of the long-running television show “Hitting the Outdoors.” Our conversation follows. RS-Thanks for taking some time before kick-off to answer some questions for Scoop readers. BN-Thank you Rick. RS-Brian, you and the team you’ve assembled have done a very good job of putting together a quality, family oriented product that has a real fun and exciting edge to it. And you’ve done it in a town that is really dominated by the football team you once played for, Congratulations Brian!
BN-Thanks. BN-I think you hit it on the head-the fact that we have that 300 pound guerilla right across the street from us and that being the Packers. I have a strong sense that Green Bay is what many people consider a football town but it may not really be a football town as opposed to a Packer town. And it’s been very difficult to market this against that. The Packers garner so much of the spotlight whether its media or that discretionary dollar that everyone is looking to spend. I think a lot of people would rather save their money and try and get to a Packer game then come to an affordable event like this. The pluses to that though conversely are the fact that if you would like to bring a family out, the opportunity to get the family to a football game is a lot greater here than across the street. RS-Have you been successful at overcoming that so far? BN-At times, yes and at other times no. We have a certain criteria that we have to meet here attendance wise in order to be a successful franchise financially, fiscally and at some points of the season we’ve attained that goal and other times we haven’t. And that’s where it becomes a business decision. You know the emotional decision is that I like being around football, and it has been such a large part of my life, but fiscally at the end of the year you have to weigh out the dollars and cents and then you make the judgment whether or not it’s feasible. RS-Will you take a moment to talk about some of the promotions that have been a real success and maybe talk about one that hasn’t? BN-Well, I have to say that the "Brian Noble Bobble Head Night" or "Talking Key Chain Night" was a great success. RS-OK (laughter). BN-No, seriously, we’ve done a lot of things that have done very well. Last year for instance, the same thing that we are doing tonight, the indoor fireworks-the smoke alarms went off as we were doing the fireworks. RS-At the last game? BN- No, last game someone actually pulled the alarm. RS-My family was here for the last game and we wondered what happened. BN- Things like that, the unforeseen, but overall we have done very well. Women’s Night for us, which was last game (June 22) playing with the pink footballs, with a Brett Favre autographed football won by a fan-we’ve done very well with our promotions. I can’t say that we have had anything that I can say I was unhappy with. Last year we did the event with my daughter’s cancer and I was a little unhappy with the overall performance of that, but otherwise, game wise and the product that we have put on the field, what people have seen, I’ve been very pleased with. RS-The Blizzard has had success on the field-last year’s conference championship and league championship game appearance, and this year’s team being in the hunt again, how do you like your team’s chances and when you look back at this championship season, what will be the reasons that the Blizzard won it all? BN-Well, I have to tell you Rick that this game is unlike a standard football game that everybody is use to watching. You can win or lose a game on one play very easily in this game. We are in the hunt this year. And last year was phenomenal because it just went by and we had a very good team that got on a roll at the right time. The fact that this year we are 6-0 at home (now 7-0 after the July 6 win over Albany) and 0-6 on the road is somewhat disconcerting. You never know, are we that good because we are playing at home, or are we that bad because we are losing on the road? I’m hoping that we can get this going on a roll. I am hoping that we can start believing in ourselves, believe in the system and believe in the team that we have here. Once you get into the playoffs, everyone knows whether it’s indoor or outdoor, it’s a whole different season. So for us the important thing is to finish strong and to get into that second season and then quite frankly anyone can win it at that point. It’s if the ball bounces the right way for you and you get a few breaks you can go all the way to the championship. RS-Brian, you and your wife Cindy have been very active members in our community starting with your time with the Packers and especially now with your foundation “A Noble Cause.” Will you take a moment to talk about this program for Scoop readers? BN-How the whole thing transpired was that two years ago my oldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Obviously when a family member goes through that it is very traumatic. Through our experience we saw some needs for other people, not necessarily for ourselves-we had the benefit of being able to be there with our daughter 24/7 and we had a tremendous support group of family and friends around us. But there were some folks that Cindy and I noticed didn’t have some of the things that we did and some of the kids in the hospital didn’t have the things my daughter did. We thought after we were fortunate enough and that God blessed us to get through it with my daughter we decided to have an impact. And that goes to some of the things that you referenced earlier Rick, the way I’ve conducted myself throughout my 22 years here in Green Bay. I think athletes can go one of two ways, you either have an impact or you have a negative impact. So many guys that think by not doing anything they are not having impact are wrong. I think that is having a negative connotation on your community by not being involved. I think you have to use your ‘celebrityism’ to make a positive impact, whether it’s on kids or whatever it may be. It has to be in the community. I set out from day one to do that. That’s why we chose to live here. And you know the foundation, A Noble Cause, was put together to help kids. We don’t go after diagnosis or treatment or anything like that. We go after promoting the kids and trying to make their stay in the hospitals as comfortable as possible-buying them laptop computers, games, movies, TVs, all the things, all the stuff that makes it a little less traumatic for them in the hospital. The things that they have to go through…I can tell you that everything that I had to go through in my life with injuries and football and all that I can tell you that I never could have done the things that I’ve watched these kids, these children go through. And if I can have an impact on them and make it that much easier for them so be it. RS-As a former fundraiser I know of all the things that need to be done and I applaud you and your family on this. There are so many opportunities for people like you to get involved that really make a difference. BN-Thanks. And you know the other thing about that is that I found is that you will see guys that put their name on stuff and you know that’s fine and if that’s what you want to do-put your face on something and say that you are a part of something-that’s fine. But I don’t think there is passion in it when someone does that. You don’t evoke passion in somebody when their just putting their name on it. When it actually has meaning and there is passion behind it you move people to action and that’s what we have tried to do by being involved from the core. I mean this is, for my wife and me, this is our foundation, this is what we do. There is a little bit stronger meaning to it.
RS-What
can someone do that would be interested in joining Cindy and you in
A Noble Cause for Kids with Cancer? RS-Switching gears Brian, what to you has been more exciting, going into the championship game with the Blizzard last season or having an 8-8 season playing with the Packers? BN-I’ve got to be honest with you Rick, there is something about coming out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field with 65,000 people…that can’t be replaced. I would have loved to be a part of the Super Bowl run, but I will always cherish walking out onto Lambeau Field with helmet on and 91 (Brian’s number while playing with the Packers)…that is something you can’t replace. RS-Last question Brian, what would you say to someone who hasn’t come to a Blizzard game yet to encourage them to come and check it out? BN-That’s the thing, if you haven’t been to an Arena football game, come to the game. Just come for nothing else than for curiosity. Because if you come once I guarantee you are going to come back. RS-That’s true, my family is hooked. BN-It’s affordable it’s exciting, it’s something that words can’t describe. If you are a football fan…I mean you can score on almost every play, and these guys play for the love of the game. It’s like watching a game in your living room, but half the time the players don’t end up on you lap. That’s pretty cool. RS-Thanks Brian!
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