(This story was updated to add new information.)
Green Bay, Ashwaubenon and Brown County will receive $1.8 million to support the public safety costs incurred while hosting the 2025 NFL Draft, Gov. Tony Evers announced June 18.
Evers included $1 million in his proposed state budget to reimburse part of local municipalities’ incurred costs, but the funding was rejected by the Joint Committee on Finance. In a June 18 press release, Evers announced that Green Bay would receive nearly $2 million through a state grant.
In the final 2023-2025 state budget, Evers created the Opportunity Attraction and Promotion Fund with a $10 million investment to support the state’s success in hosting large-scale events like the draft, the release said. The fund is administered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
State Rep. David Steffen, who advocated for funding to be included in the state budget, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette June 13 that “we’ve always had a two-pronged approach to this reimbursement effort,” which included applying for the WEDC grant.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Gov. Evers and WEDC for their critical support in covering public safety expenses related to the NFL Draft,” Green Bay Mayor Genrich said in the release. “This was a historic event that brought enormous economic benefits to our community and the entire state of Wisconsin. The allocation of this funding recognizes that positive statewide economic effect and protects our local taxpayers from bearing the costs—a win-win for our state’s and our city’s residents.”
Evers said he was proud of Green Bay’s efforts to pull off “a booming success” with the draft and of the state’s ability to provide the funding to support local partners.
“I’ve said all along that nobody could have pulled it off other than the Green Bay Packers and the good folks in Green Bay and across the region,” Evers said in the release. “So, it was critically important to me that Green Bay and our local partners received the support they need to cover public safety costs, and I’m glad we were able to get this done.”
Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach thanked Evers in a post on X “for helping Brown County’s public safety departments cover the costs” of the draft and Genrich for “organizing this request.”
“Brown County did a great job hosting the biggest event in our history!” Streckenbach wrote.
State Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, said in a joint news release with Rep. Ryan Spaude, D-Ashwaubenon, that he was “delighted that Governor Evers did what the Republicans on the state budget-writing committee failed to do last week: recognize that our community’s investment in public safety during the NFL Draft benefitted all of Wisconsin.” The grant ensures local taxpayers aren’t footing the bill, Wall said in the statement.
“We first spoke with the governor about this issue back in December. It took the length of an NFL season to get here, but we should all celebrate this win for our local taxpayers,” Spaude said in the release.
An estimated 600,000 people attended the three-day event, according to the NFL, though analytics firm Placer.ai calculated 312,000 unique visitors. Early estimates projected the event will generate $94 million in economic activity statewide.
State funding saved local budgets, officials say
The Green Bay Police Department spent $550,000 on personnel overtime alone during the NFL Draft, Police Chief Chris Davis said. Thanks to the state grant, $538,000 will come back to the department, Davis said, “to offset that pretty significant hit to our overtime budget.”
Without state funding, the NFL Draft would have taken close to half of the department’s overtime budget for the entire year, Davis said. The police department usually spends every dollar of its $1.4 million overtime budget, Davis said.
“Our overtime budget every year, by the end of the year, is very tight, and spending almost half of that on one event would have forced us to make some really difficult decisions,” Davis said. “And we never want to have a negative impact on public safety, obviously. So this makes that task a whole lot easier.”
There is around $41,000 of NFL Draft expenses that won’t be covered by the grant, Davis said, but should be manageable within the existing budget. The grant also covered a majority of the Green Bay Metro Fire Department’s expenses, Fire Chief Matthew Knott said.
The fire department will be allocated around $423,000, Knott said, which will cover the majority of personnel overtime. There is about $15,000 of expenses that won’t be covered, Knott said, which is “an absolute manageable number.”
“We’re appreciative of the governor and our elected officials to really make a solution that really worked well for everybody,” Knott said.
The grant is great news for taxpayers, Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain said, as it reduces the burden left to local municipalities to fund the event.
“Brown County taxpayers will no longer have to completely carry the burden of public safety costs for an event that highlighted Wisconsin and was enjoyed by many people from around the state,” Delain said.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@greenbay.gannett.com or (920) 431-8314. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @vivianbarrett_.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay to receive $1.8 million in state grant to reimburse NFL Draft public safety costs
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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