Green Bay Police Officers watch the 2025 NFL Draft theater area on April 26, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Brown County municipalities will receive state money to help defray public safety costs from the NFL Draft after all.
Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that the state will allocate $1.8 million to the city of Green Bay from the Opportunity Attraction and Promotion Fund program. Green Bay leaders say they will share the money with Ashwaubenon and Brown County.
“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 a news 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.”
The $30 million Opportunity Attraction and Promotion Fund was created in the last two-year state budget. It is administered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Both Evers, a Democrat, and some Republican lawmakers from Northeast Wisconsin had hoped to include money for NFL Draft public safety in the 2025-27 state budget. Evers proposed $1 million, while State Reps. David Steffen, R-Howard, and Ben Franklin, R-De Pere, proposed $1.25 million.
However, last week, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee dropped the money from the state budget it is crafting.
Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach has said $1.25 million split among three municipalities would cover about two-thirds of the county’s costs.
Organizers predicted the draft would add about $94 million to the state’s economy, but that was based on attendance projections of about 240,000 people. With the actual gate numbers estimated at about 600,000 people, the impact is expected to be much larger than anticipated. An economic impact study will be released next month.
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