Green Bay prepares for 2025 NFL draft with 250,000 fans and $100M economic boost
By Blake Eason
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GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (WISN) — A quarter of a million people are expected in Green Bay when the 2025 NFL draft comes to town.
One of the leaders responsible for bringing this event to town is Brad Toll with Discover Green Bay, who says this has been a dream nearly a decade in the making.
“Getting more excited every day,” Toll said.
Right behind the Super Bowl, NFL cities compete to host the draft. Thousands of hours of planning go into to proving the city can host thousands of fans.
Toll said it’s a very meticulous process that started back in 2017 for him.
“You know, we knew absolutely we could do this,” remembers Toll.
Convincing the NFL was a different story, as every detail had to be shared in hundreds of documents.
Being the NFL’s smallest city, Toll knew their bid would have to be creative.
“The NFL was a little surprised that, you know, people park all over their lawns,” said Toll, referencing the many things happening on any given Packers game in Green Bay.
Ultimately, the bid would fall flat in 2022 and 2024, but Toll would press on and one year later was rewarded for it.
“You lose a bunch of them, but it feels really good when you win,” Toll said with a smile.
Right now, early numbers point to 240,000 on track to attend the 2025 NFL draft.
“The NFL draft is free,” Toll said. “So this is a tremendous opportunity, for people that have Lambeau Field on their bucket list.”
This could be why Toll isn’t afraid to share his team is looking at a $100 million in revenue generated across the state of Wisconsin.
“We’re really in a great position geographically to have people drive into it,” Toll said. “And that’s why the economic impact estimates for the state of Wisconsin are so high.”
Early numbers point to Brown County alone bringing in 20 million, according to Discover Green Bay.
“Personally, I think those numbers are pretty conservative,” said Toll.
Not to mention the millions of views from the NFL draft being televised, with Lambeau Field front and center.
“Green Bay, it just has so much tradition and so much history here,” Toll said.
The 2025 NFL draft kicks off in Green Bay on April 24.
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