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.
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.
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 receives $1.8 million grant for NFL Draft public safety costs