Green Bay will host the NFL draft from April 24-26. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

Green Bay-area legislators say the city and state are prepared for the “once-in-a-generation” tourism coming to the region when the NFL draft starts in the city Thursday. 

Green Bay is accustomed to hosting at least eight Packers home games each year, but the draft is expected to bring up to four times as many people to the city as a typical game, according to state Rep. David Steffen (R-Howard). Hotels are booked as far south as Milwaukee and as far west as Wausau, he said, and with that comes additional strain on local resources. 

“We heard early on that public safety led by the city of Green Bay had real concerns at the ballooning costs at having this event policed,” state Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) said. “So they were inviting the county, the state, other officers from outside of the region to come help with the draft, given that we wanted to make sure it was an incredibly safe event in our incredibly safe community. But you know, we want to be aware of things like human trafficking, other challenges, potentially debaucherous behavior, and that footprint between the downtown and Lambeau Field would require more public safety officials, including EMS services, than we even had on hand.”

In the last biennial budget, state lawmakers set aside $2 million to support the draft and in his budget proposal this year, Gov. Tony Evers requested $1 million to assist the city with additional expenses. While the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee rejected Evers’ proposal, Steffen and Rep. Ben Franklin (R-De Pere) have requested $1.25 million in the budget to reimburse public safety departments in Green Bay, Brown County and Ashwaubenon for the added costs incurred in planning for and managing the hundreds of thousands of visitors. 

Steffen told the Wisconsin Examiner his proposal is better because it is specifically carved out for police and fire departments but that the additional $1.25 million — funded out of the state’s nearly $5 billion budget surplus — will help local officials manage the event while still making it a net benefit for the state. He said he anticipates the draft generating $4.5 million in sales tax revenue for the state. 

“So this is still a net financial winner for the state, but having the county, city and village shoulder all those expenses on the property taxpayers for this statewide benefiting event doesn’t seem appropriate,” Steffen said. 

Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City have all hosted the NFL draft in recent years, but despite the event’s success in other midwestern cities, both Rivera-Wagner and Steffen say Green Bay’s status as the smallest city in the country to be the home of a major professional sports team makes the event here unique. 

“I think a lot of people are going to be coming because of the unique nature of Lambeau Field and Green Bay in professional sports,” Steffen said. “There is nothing like it anywhere else in the nation in terms of an experience.”

Last year, business owners in the Milwaukee area were left frustrated after the city hosted the Republican National Convention because of its muted benefit to local businesses. Rivera-Wagner, who worked as chief of staff for Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich prior to his election to the Legislature, said the city met with officials from Detroit and Kansas City to learn how to make sure the draft benefits the city at large and not just the area around Lambeau Field. 

“You have to be purposeful to make these large-scale events impact the larger community, because, in and of themselves, if they’re overly contained, they cannot necessarily have the impact that you might anticipate,” he said. 

The city has set up a series of events in its downtown area, including a kringle making competition, a 5k run and an early opening of the city’s normal downtown farmer’s market before its typical May start. These events, according to Rivera-Wagner, are meant to engage locals and visitors while not causing the event to cast such a large footprint that people trying to avoid the crowds can’t do so. 

“We took those lessons to heart and created this entire downtown experience based on the feedback that we learned from Kansas City and Detroit about celebrating our community, making sure this event isn’t just for outsiders, that is also for the residents of our community and make sure that economic footprint is as big, as broad as possible without interfering with the people who want to opt out,” he said. 

Steffen said that even though people visit Green Bay from elsewhere each home-game Sunday during football season, they often fly in and out quickly. But because the draft is a three-day event — with lots of down time before a fan’s team makes its pick each round — the draft gives Green Bay a better opportunity to show itself off. 

“Because this is a multi-day event where the majority of the activity is in the afternoon and evening, there’s going to be lots of opportunity in the early parts of each day for people to experience the rest of Green Bay,” he said. “And so we have free transportation arranged throughout the city, from the various hotels to the draft experience, as well as to places like our vibrant downtown areas and our state renowned amusement park Bay Beach. So these are things that I think we’ll be taking advantage of at a level that far exceeds a typical Packer game.”

Green Bay will host the NFL draft from April 24-26. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

Green Bay-area legislators say the city and state are prepared for the “once-in-a-generation” tourism coming to the region when the NFL draft starts in the city Thursday. 

Green Bay is accustomed to hosting at least eight Packers home games each year, but the draft is expected to bring up to four times as many people to the city as a typical game, according to state Rep. David Steffen (R-Howard). Hotels are booked as far south as Milwaukee and as far west as Wausau, he said, and with that comes additional strain on local resources. 

“We heard early on that public safety led by the city of Green Bay had real concerns at the ballooning costs at having this event policed,” state Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) said. “So they were inviting the county, the state, other officers from outside of the region to come help with the draft, given that we wanted to make sure it was an incredibly safe event in our incredibly safe community. But you know, we want to be aware of things like human trafficking, other challenges, potentially debaucherous behavior, and that footprint between the downtown and Lambeau Field would require more public safety officials, including EMS services, than we even had on hand.”

In the last biennial budget, state lawmakers set aside $2 million to support the draft and in his budget proposal this year, Gov. Tony Evers requested $1 million to assist the city with additional expenses. While the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee rejected Evers’ proposal, Steffen and Rep. Ben Franklin (R-De Pere) have requested $1.25 million in the budget to reimburse public safety departments in Green Bay, Brown County and Ashwaubenon for the added costs incurred in planning for and managing the hundreds of thousands of visitors. 

Steffen told the Wisconsin Examiner his proposal is better because it is specifically carved out for police and fire departments but that the additional $1.25 million — funded out of the state’s nearly $5 billion budget surplus — will help local officials manage the event while still making it a net benefit for the state. He said he anticipates the draft generating $4.5 million in sales tax revenue for the state. 

“So this is still a net financial winner for the state, but having the county, city and village shoulder all those expenses on the property taxpayers for this statewide benefiting event doesn’t seem appropriate,” Steffen said. 

Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City have all hosted the NFL draft in recent years, but despite the event’s success in other midwestern cities, both Rivera-Wagner and Steffen say Green Bay’s status as the smallest city in the country to be the home of a major professional sports team makes the event here unique. 

“I think a lot of people are going to be coming because of the unique nature of Lambeau Field and Green Bay in professional sports,” Steffen said. “There is nothing like it anywhere else in the nation in terms of an experience.”

Last year, business owners in the Milwaukee area were left frustrated after the city hosted the Republican National Convention because of its muted benefit to local businesses. Rivera-Wagner, who worked as chief of staff for Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich prior to his election to the Legislature, said the city met with officials from Detroit and Kansas City to learn how to make sure the draft benefits the city at large and not just the area around Lambeau Field. 

“You have to be purposeful to make these large-scale events impact the larger community, because, in and of themselves, if they’re overly contained, they cannot necessarily have the impact that you might anticipate,” he said. 

The city has set up a series of events in its downtown area, including a kringle making competition, a 5k run and an early opening of the city’s normal downtown farmer’s market before its typical May start. These events, according to Rivera-Wagner, are meant to engage locals and visitors while not causing the event to cast such a large footprint that people trying to avoid the crowds can’t do so. 

“We took those lessons to heart and created this entire downtown experience based on the feedback that we learned from Kansas City and Detroit about celebrating our community, making sure this event isn’t just for outsiders, that is also for the residents of our community and make sure that economic footprint is as big, as broad as possible without interfering with the people who want to opt out,” he said. 

Steffen said that even though people visit Green Bay from elsewhere each home-game Sunday during football season, they often fly in and out quickly. But because the draft is a three-day event — with lots of down time before a fan’s team makes its pick each round — the draft gives Green Bay a better opportunity to show itself off. 

“Because this is a multi-day event where the majority of the activity is in the afternoon and evening, there’s going to be lots of opportunity in the early parts of each day for people to experience the rest of Green Bay,” he said. “And so we have free transportation arranged throughout the city, from the various hotels to the draft experience, as well as to places like our vibrant downtown areas and our state renowned amusement park Bay Beach. So these are things that I think we’ll be taking advantage of at a level that far exceeds a typical Packer game.”