GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Two of Europe’s most iconic football – or soccer – clubs are coming to Green Bay this summer for an exhibition match. But even without high stakes, fans and tourism officials alike are getting excited.
“We’re expecting tens of thousand of fans here, and an economic impact that will likely exceed $10 million,” said Discover Green Bay President, Brad Toll.
For Discover Green Bay and the local tourism industry, such a large attraction also means first-time visitors to the area.
“July seems like a long time away. This is going to be a fantastic tourism event in the hospitality community, and the tourism community here in Green Bay is very, very excited,” Toll said. “There is already a tremendous buzz in the community and really throughout Wisconsin…It really brings a new audience to Lambeau field which means first time visitors to our community which were very excited about. We look forward to interacting with them here.”
Toll hopes to make an impression on those visitors that will convince them to come back.
“First off, we try to enhance their stay. We also share with them other things about our community that hopefully brings them back on future visits, possibly to a Packers game as well,” Toll said. “EAA starts the Monday after, the shareholders meeting and training camp [are also] just around the corner. There’s good reason to stay a whole week!”
Another huge piece of the event is the media that typically comes along with it. Toll used the NFL Draft as an example, as the city of Las Vegas played a major backdrop to the event – and possibly attracted people to book a visit.
“The opportunity to have this kind of a media audience is huge, and again, an audience that may not be as familiar with Green Bay as the football audience,” Toll explained.
Toll does expect the match to sell out, which means tens of thousands of people looking for places to stay.
“We hope that everybody that wants to go to this match can come, but I encourage people to move quickly. I think the tickets will sell quickly,” said Packers President and CEO, Mark Murphy.
“Plan early, get the tickets this week, grab them as quick as you can, then book a room so that you’re sure you’ve got everything set up for a great time,” Toll said. “We’re hearing buzz from around the region. Those are areas that have a lot of followers for soccer with pro teams, US teams in those communities.”
That includes cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, which have pro teams, and aren’t too far of a drive for serious soccer fans.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. CT Friday online.
Comments