A contractor on Thursday worked on the exterior of the stadium near the north end zone, removing façade where new elevators eventually will be installed. 

Most of the effort now is prep work, but every opportunity counts if the Packers are going to have the changes — including new elevators and 7,000 more seats — ready for the 2013 season.

The Packers plan to provide a project update next week.

Armed with a healthy financial portfolio and sky-high fan interest in the defending Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers said Thursday they would move ahead with plans to add approximately 6,600 seats in a revamped south end zone at Lambeau Field and add a gate and rooftop viewing platform in the north end zone.

And for those who have always wanted to be an owner of a professional football team, the Packers say they may hold another stock sale, the fifth in the history of the franchise. As always, the stock is worthless, but it gives any fan bragging rights.

The entire project will cost an estimated $143 million.

Two new video boards and the work on the north end zone should be done in time for the 2012 season. The entire project should be ready for the beginning of the 2013 football season, team officials said Thursday at a news conference at Lambeau Field.

Better yet, Mark Murphy, the Packers' president and CEO, and Jason Wied, vice president of administration, said the team would not ask for public tax money to pay for it. That is a departure from 2003, when Brown County residents agreed to pay a 0.5% sales tax as part of the financing for the $295.2 million Lambeau makeover.

The every-other-year U.S. Championship Cheese Contest is making its second consecutive appearance in the Lambeau Field Atrium through noon Thursday. A record 1,604 entries are vying for gold medals in 76 categories, and ultimately Best of Show.

For the first time, judging for all but the final round is being tabulated by computer. Each judge has a laptop, two to a station, in a U-shaped area on the floor of the Atrium. At the base of the U is a table sporting samples of 2009's gold medal winners, including the Best of Show Parmesan made by John Griffiths of Sartori Food Corp. in Antigo.

John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, sponsor of the event, said Lambeau Field proved a popular location when the contest returned to Green Bay in 2009 after a decade away.

The Green Bay Packers are once again looking for help removing snow from Lambeau Field.

As many as 450 shovelers are needed Wednesday, Dec. 22 beginning at 8 a.m. Those interested should report to the Mills Fleet Farm Gate on the stadium’s west side.

Shovelers need to be at least 15-years-old and will receive $8 per hour, with payment made upon completion of work. The Packers will provide shovels.