UW celebrates 100 days to home opener with scavenger hunt

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - It’s never too early for Badger fans to get excited about football season and UW Athletics marked 100 days to kickoff with a scavenger hunt across Madison parks on Thursday.

Officials hid mini football helmets containing codes for prizes, like game tickets or Badger gear, across six city parks ahead of the scavenger hunt at 6 a.m. and it didn’t take long for Bucky fans to find them.

Before 11 a.m. the UW Badgers tweeted that all the helmets had been claimed. NBC15 caught up with some of the lucky winners at Elver Park in Madison.

“My little daughter who’s standing behind me has been up since 3:30 this morning and neither of us were asleep so we figured we’d come to the park and take a peek and we found it on the tennis courts,” said Paul Jones.

Jennifer Weigel-Schaffer also found her helmet at Elver Park after a friend encouraged her to start the hunt early in the morning. “Immediately we drove here and started early. I saw someone had gotten one over there so I was like ahh they got one and then I ran around this fence and there it was. So, I’m so happy!”

UW officials said they wanted to do something different to get fans hyped up for UW’s home opener against Illinois State in 100 days.

“I think the turnout has been wonderful. We’re always looking for ideas to bring the Badgers to people. We ask people to come to our facilities, our venues, come to campus from where they live and work. This is a small way for us to go to their neighborhoods”, said Kevin Kluender, the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions.

Thursday is also the first day to buy season tickets to watch the Badgers in action. Sales started at 9 a.m.

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