Collaboration key to ensuring the Green Bay area is ready to host the NFL draft
Shed any thoughts or concerns that the NFL's smallest market can't handle the league's second-largest event: Green Bay area is ready to host the 2025 NFL draft.
League officials on Monday joined municipal leaders and tourism officials to applaud the region, particularly its public safety agencies, for more than a year of collaboration and cooperation in preparation to host the draft, April 24-26.
Ralph Ennis, the NFL's director of investigations and security, said Green Bay Police, Metro Fire, Ashwaubenon Public Safety and the Brown County Sheriff's Office understood its roles and the importance of collaboration to making the draft first and foremost, a safe event for everyone who attends.
"Your public safety partners in this area are phenomenal. They have done an outstanding job," Ennis said. "A lot of the stuff we normally have to help facilitate they took the mantle and ran with it themselves."
Monday's media event served as a kickoff to the NFL draft week. Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, Ashwaubenon Village President Mary Kardoskee and Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said it was exciting to reach this point after two years of planning.
"Our community is obviously the smallest NFL city, but we've got the biggest heart and a great ability to come together across municipal boundaries through partnerships to pull together a really incredible event," Genrich said.
Here are six takeaways with two days to go.
More: Your guide to 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay: Registration, parking, things to do and more
Spoiler: It's the weather, Ennis said without hesitation. Ennis said NFL and public safety staff have a variety of contingency plans in place should the weather turn dangerous.
"One of the things when you have an outdoor event, you have to have plans in place if you have lightning or severe storms or high winds coming through," Ennis said. "We have to take the entire draft footprint and make sure we have really solid plans where to send people, how to communicate. There's a lot of pieces to that."
The Green Bay weather forecast currently includes chances of rain, possibly thunderstorms, on April 24 and 25.
Several NFL, public safety and tourism officials encouraged visitors to do some planning and research before leaving their home, hotel or vacation rental for the draft grounds.
511 Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation website and mobile apps can show you how fast or slow traffic is moving, provides construction detours and more information for motorists en route to the draft.
Discover Green Bay's Draft Transportation page: The region's tourism agency has collected information on places visitors can park near the draft grounds and developed turn-by-turn directions to parking zones around Lambeau Field.
NFL OnePass: The app is not just your free, digital ticket to the draft. It's also where you can find information on security procedures, the event's clear bag policy, parking information and a list of activities, games, food and drink options, and anything else you need to know to plan your visit.
Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain said public safety agencies haven't been alerted to any draft-related scams or threats, but he still encouraged consumers to be wary of anything that seems out of the ordinary.
"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is," Delain said.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection is warning draft visitors to be on guard for transportation scams like fake transit tickets, passes or passes. The agency encouraged visitors to consult the OnePass app for details about parking and transportation services.
In line with what he called the "culture of northeastern Wisconsin," Delain said all public safety officers working the draft will be ready to help anyone who needs it.
"Find a friendly face in uniform and ask," he said. "That's our culture: We're willing to help."
The NFL draft is scheduled to go until 11 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, possibly later. Metro Transit will be ready to adjust its Downtown to Titletown bus service hours as needed, said Patty Kiewicz, Metro Transit director.
Kiewicz said Metro Transit will treat it like a Packers game, which doesn't always end when expected.
"We do monitor that very closely. Staff will monitor. We will not leave people stranded there (at the draft)," Kiewicz said.
Nicki Ewell, the NFL's senior director for events, said tens of thousands of visitors will attend the draft, but that more detailed numbers will not be available until after the event ends.
Ewell said the NFL will share the total attendance and number of OnePass downloads after the event.
Additionally, Discover Green Bay has hired a firm to conduct an economic impact analysis during the event to see how it compares to the estimates of $20 million locally and $94 million statewide. The results will be shared this summer.
Contact business reporter Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Collaboration key to ensuring Green Bay's ready to host the NFL draft
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