(This story was updated to add new information.)
The 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay was declared a success immediately after it concluded in April, but how big a success was demonstrated by an economic impact that outstripped expectations.
Draft organizers on July 16 said total local economic impact — direct and indirect spending — equaled $72.9 million, and the statewide impact was $104.7 million. Total attendance was 605,000, with 362,588 unique visitors.
Toll said both attendance and local spending were more than expected. “We’ve never seen events like this,” he said.
The draft was held April 24-26, centered on Lambeau Field, Titletown and Resch complex in Green Bay and Ashwaubenon. It had the second-highest attendance in draft history, tied with Nashville in 2019, and was the most-watched televised draft after the 2020 COVID year, when the entire event was virtual.
Organizers — which included Discover Green Bay, the Packers and PMI Entertainment Group — were admittedly conservative in predicting attendance of 250,000 over the three days with a $20 million local impact and $94 million statewide impact, but final numbers were impressive beyond how much they exceeded restrained estimates.
Experience Greater Green Bay, the tourism-research and education arm of tourism bureau Discover Green Bay, hired SportsImpact, Smith Travel Research, and Zartico to study the three-day event.
Aside from the considerable direct economic benefit of hosting the draft, Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy and Toll emphasized often how the event would serve as free advertising for the Green Bay region. It certainly did that.
In addition to being the second most-watched draft, with an average of 7.5 million viewers per day, media monitoring firm MuckRack said the event generated 776 news stories by 574 outlets in 49 states. Ninety-six percent of the stories were positive or neutral. That equaled $50 million in free advertising, Toll said.
“Having the (TV) commentators talking about what a great time they are having in Green Bay and how beautiful it is and how fantastic the city is handling it, that also is very, very helpful,” Toll said.
More than 82% of survey respondents rated Green Bay as an “Excellent” host city, while more than 70% rated Lambeau Field/Titletown as an “Excellent” host venue. Among attendees who had been to previous NFL Drafts, 82% said this was “the best draft they have attended.”
“I did hear from opposing team fans that said everyone was so gracious and so nice and so warm and welcoming,” said Gabrielle Dow, vice president of marketing and fan engagement for the Packers.
Visitor reactions to the Lambeau/Titletown/Resch complex as the draft site was 60% excellent and 24% above average. Visitors said the Green Bay region as host was 61.2% excellent and 28% good.
“That’s the kind of impression we want people to leave with,” Toll said.
What surprised organizers, however, was the number of visitors from Wisconsin and the number of Packers fans who attended the draft. Apparently, Packers fans travel well even when the destination is just down the road.
“I expected to see a diverse group, like you do when you go to London for an NFL game. I’ve been to the last six drafts and there’s a melting pot of people,” Dow said. “We just had Packers fans, 90% Packers fans, and I was surprised at that. They showed up for us and they weren’t scared about anything (such as traffic, etc.).
“I think we were wavering on how many fans were coming from out of state … and what we discovered was a lot of fans actually lived in the region and found family members, friends, and stayed at the homes of relatives and friends. We didn’t expect that,” Dow said.
Toll said selling Green Bay to future events is already easier. He said a representative of one event asked if Green Bay could handle their affair, and Toll reminded them of the draft. That settled the question.
“We are just really proud of Green Bay, how everyone worked together to make it successful. Everyone had to chip in the make it successful. The NFL was absolutely thrilled.”
Contact business reporter Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: 2025 NFL Draft’s economic impact on Green Bay area was $72.9M, exceeding expectations
Reporting by Jeff Bollier and Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
