The seven year effort finally bore fruit. The National Football League announced Monday at the league meetings in Minneapolis that Green Bay will host the 2025 NFL Draft. Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy along with city officials and Discover Green Bay first inquired about the possibility in 2016. Lambeau Field and the surrounding Titletown District will host the week long event, expected to bring in a quarter million fans to the area and deliver a whopping economic impact estimated at 94 million dollars.
The NFL has turned the three draft into it’s signature off-season event, moving it to select cities over the past few years. More than 300,000 turned out in Kansas City last month. The draft has also been conduced in Las Vegas, Cleveland and Philadelphia recently.
The Packers thought they might bring the draft in prior years but needed to wait until expansion works was completed at the stadium and the new KI Convention Center was built where the old Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena once stood. With all that work nearly finished (the Packers are wrapping up the expansion of the football operations facility on the east side of the stadium and the installation of two, massive new scoreboards), league owners have given their blessing to the event.
It will be interesting to see how the league maps out the logistics, which includes a huge main stage and seating arrangements, on site studios for the major networks covering the draft as well as the NFL Draft Experience, full of interactive attractions available to fans throughout the week. The entire Titletown District to the west of the stadium and the parking lots on the east side to Armed Forces drive between the KI Center and the Don Hutson Center will certainly be utilized.
What used to be a one day exercise where teams selected players through 12 rounds, the draft is now a prime time showcase with live music and more. Can’t wait to see what kind of show the Packers and the city of Green Bay put on 23 months from now.
Meanwhile, the team has begun their off-season organized team activities. The veterans and rookies are now getting on-field work and the first of three practices open to the media takes place on Tuesday. Head Coach Matt LaFleur is scheduled to speak and the locker room will be open to reporters after the workout.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst has added a running back to the roster. The Packers signed undrafted rookie free agent Emanuel Wilson from Fort Valley State (Georiga). Wilson was signed after the draft by Denver but was released shortly thereafter. He was named his conference offensive player of the year and a second team Division II All American after gaining 1371 yards (6.6 average) with 17 touchdowns last season. The Packers also released kicker Parker White who spent time of the practice squad last year. His departure leaves 6th round draft choice Anders Carlson from Auburn as the only kicker on the roster.
