GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Many local officials are in Detroit this week to get a firsthand look at the ins and outs of hosting an NFL draft.
Green Bay will host the NFL draft next April. Local officials told Local 5 News that about 250,000 people will descend on Northeast Wisconsin for the event. They expect that the draft will pump $20 million into the Green Bay economy and over $90 million into Wisconsin’s economy as a whole.
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In addition to being a great boom for the local economy, local leaders expect that it’s going to be one heck of a party.
“It’s going to be something that everybody in town is going to want to come and check out,” said Nicholas Coehoorn who is the assistant operations manager at Stadium View in Ashwaubenon.
He said preparations for the NFL draft have already begun at Stadium View.
“The owners are out in Detroit (this week at the NFL draft) getting ideas for the draft for next year,” he told Local Five News.
He said the details aren’t fully ironed out yet, but they expect to have food specials, DJ’s, and lots of live music to make sure the draft is a party that nobody who visits forgets. He said he expects a Packers game-like atmosphere for the entirety of the NFL draft.
The owners of Stadium View aren’t the only locals in Detroit checking out things this week.
Local 5 News has learned that officials with Discover Green Bay, Green Bay mayor Eric Genrich, and local law enforcement officials have all also made the trip.
“Them (Detroit officials) sharing things that have worked and haven’t worked, it’s extremely helpful to our planning,” said Nick Meisner with Discover Green Bay when asked about the purpose of the Detroit trip.
Meisner said their itinerary this week includes a bunch of conversations with leaders in Detroit as well as question and answer sessions with people who work for the NFL. Discover Green Bay officials were also in Kansas City last year for the same reason.
Meisner said they’re doing all they can to maximize the opportunity they have next spring, even if that preparation calls for a work trip to another state.
“Being able to say we can host the NFL draft shows we can host an event of any size,” he said. “It’s really a good sales tool for us.”
He said that even though Detroit and Green Bay are different cities, there’s things they can learn in the Motor City that they can tweak and apply to Titletown.
“All in all, it’s about three things, making them feel welcomed, making sure they have a good time, and making sure they want to come back,” he said. “Those principles weave through no matter the size of your destination.”
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From local businesses like Stadium View to Discover Green Bay and local law enforcement officials, everybody else is also working on their piece of the plan that will lead to a successful NFL draft in Green Bay.
“A lot of it is transportation, Lambeau Field is on our southern border (of the city),” said David Buck the city planner when asked what his department is doing ahead of the NFL draft. “How do you get people to the draft and to the other amenities of the city?”
The Packers have said they will use the Lambeau Field campus, Titletown, and the area around the Resch Center to different parts of the NFL draft experience.
The team and the NFL said they have blocked off the required number of hotel rooms for the event. The number of accommodations in a small (for the NFL) city was a major question mark when the Packers and Green Bay put in their bid to host the draft.
