People travel through the 2025 NFL Draft campus on the event's final day on April 26, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The NFL Draft in Green Bay was a big undertaking on many fronts, including the effort to give free rides from local tavern league bars directly to the front door of people’s homes, rental houses or hotels.
“During the draft, we ended up with 2,627 rides with 9,013 passengers. Very impressive,” says Don Mjelde, who owns Richard Cranium’s in Green Bay and is also the Eastern District Vice President for the Tavern League of Wisconsin.
Mjelde was one of the many helping hands who made the free rides a reality. As a bar owner himself, he knows how difficult it can be for bar patrons to get rides during busy events. He also knows how critical it is to keep those who have been drinking off the roads.
“Our patrons are our friends and our family, and we want them to get home safe, too,” he says.
Those factors, combined with what he describes as an industry full of heart, resulted in the free ride program during the draft.
“This was created to show the world what we can accomplish as an organization, what we can do for our local communities, what we have always done in Brown County and will continue to do,” he says.
The program was a larger-scale version of the year-round SafeRide program, but there were dozens of puzzle pieces needed to make it work for the thousands of draft attendees.
They obtained 40 shuttle vans, hired and trained 91 drivers, handed out thousands of informational trifolds and set up a dispatch center that operated for 61 hours over four days.
“91 drivers put a total of 2,048 hours on the road in just a few short days. We spent over $10,400 in gas, put on over 33,500 miles,” Mjelde adds.
It was all made possible by volunteer work, grants and donations, along with Tavern League of Wisconsin funds. In other words: no taxpayer money.
Mjelde says drivers left the event not only with some extra cash in pocket, but with stories from fans and memories that will last a lifetime.
Now that it’s all over, would they do anything differently?
“No. I’d pick the same people, I’d pick the same drivers, I’d pick the same method and I’d pick the same sponsors. I think everyone did a great job coming together and making this a success,” he adds.
Other transportation methods in the area saw rising numbers, too.
“Transportation was a concern of ours right from the beginning. Green Bay, we’re big in heart without a doubt, but from a transportation perspective, we are very small compared to many of the other cities that host these events,” said Patty Kiewiz, transit director for Green Bay Metro, during a press conference held Tuesday recapping the draft.
“We had just about 20,000 trips in those three days for Green Bay Metro. To give you a little bit of comparison, we’re typically about 8,000,” Kiewiz adds.
She says there were no issues for any of her bus drivers or any riders, and the weekend was a success on the transportation front.
Comments