2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay; officials anticipate tourism spike
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Organizers expect five times the number of visitors Milwaukee saw for the Republican National Convention to make their way to Wisconsin for the 2025 NFL Draft in April.
The Green Bay Packers tout it as an opportunity for the entire state to benefit, not just Green Bay. It’s a little more than four months away, but the hype train is chugging along.
Aaron Popkey is director of public affairs for the Green Bay Packers.
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"The NFL Draft this coming April is going to be a huge event, certainly for Green Bay, greater Green Bay and northeastern Wisconsin, but it's gonna have an impact statewide," Popkey said.
Organizers will aim to improve upon what Detroit saw earlier this year.
With max-capacity crowds filling its theater space, Discover Green Bay estimates as many as 240,000 visitors could bring a statewide economic impact of $94 million.
"A lot of that is hospitality, tourism, hotels, food and beverage, that sort of thing, but also just visits to attractions, those types of things," Popkey said.
Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist is skeptical.
The formula often used to calculate that number relies on a multiplier.
For example, it suggests the money a visitor spends on a hotel then leads that hotel owner to spend more somewhere else in town and multiplies on.
Zimbalist said that multiplier doesn't account.
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For out-of-state operators, who may take that revenue, but not spend it here, thus limiting that economic impact.
"At the end of the day, I'm prepared to believe there's some positive economic impact," Zimbalist said. "I'm not prepared to believe that it would have a major impact."
The organizing committee is looking to hire as many as 1,600 employees for the draft, and they want 80% of them to be local to Wisconsin.
The three-day draft will take place in Green Bay from April 24-26. For more information, visit the 2025 NFL Draft website.