The NFL Draft in Detroit was safe, successful and lucrative. Now Green Bay is next up

The 2024 NFL Draft was worth $213.6 million to Detroit, although the benefits of hosting one of the league's premier events continue.

"My dreams were exceeded by our reality," said Claude Molinari, CEO of Visit Detroit, even before the final report on the Detroit draft's economic impact was released Thursday. "This event paid for itself 10-fold in so many ways. A friend said, 'You guys just got a three-day lovefest for Detroit on national TV. In a million years you could not buy that type of advertising for your destination.'"

Green Bay will host the 2025 NFL draft from April 24 to 26. Organizers expect a $94 million economic impact statewide and $20 million locally. They anticipate attendance of 240,000, which would be less than Detroit's opening day, reflecting the difference in market sizes, but three times the turnout for a typical Packers game. For the three days of the event in 2024, Detroit had attendance of 775,000.

(A note on how attendance is counted: Every time an individual enters the official NFL draft grounds, they are counted. One person could be counted several times during a day, or over the three days).

The 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City, which had attendance of 312,000, reported $164 million in total economic impact.

A significant amount of attendance at the draft was generated by Detroit's metro population of 4.4 million. The report determined that 30.2% of attendees traveled more than 100 miles. The Detroit draft drew from 50 states and more than 20 countries, according to the report.

The Green Bay metro area has a population of 320,000. Sites 100 miles from Green Bay include Port Washington, Beaver Dam, Wautoma, Wisconsin Rapids, Wausau, Crandon and Ellison Bay. It is likely a higher percentage of 2025 attendees will come from 100 miles or more.

Highlights from the report include:

• $161.3 million of the $213.6 million overall amount in gross economic impact represents new spending within the Detroit region created by the presence of the 2024 NFL Draft.
• $106.4 million of the $161.3 million in gross economic impact is retained long-term within the Detroit region as new income for households, business proprietors, and tax revenues.
• The $106.4 million represents gross impact on local income, accounting for any money leakages shortly after new money enters the local economy. The overall fiscal/tax impact stemming from visitor spending is $12.3 million.
• The NFL’s total spending on local minority-owned businesses was $12.1 million. The Michigan Black Business Alliance (MBBA), Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), Visit Detroit and the Detroit Sports Commission helped Black-owned businesses secure 34 contracts to work directly with the NFL, totaling nearly 40% of local contracts. "The NFL was extremely positive and deliberate with us in identifying minority businesses," Molinari said.
• MBBA members hired more than 500 staff members to meet work demand, resulting in approximately $1.2 million in staff income during draft week.
• The Detroit Sports Commission’s Living Legacy Initiative helped distribute $1.5 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations.
• Hotel occupancy in the city of Detroit during the draft: Wednesday, April 24, was 84%; Thursday, April 25, was 92%; Friday, April 26, was 85%; and Saturday, April 27, was 74%.

Hotel occupancy in Brown County will be closer to 100% because the NFL already has claimed most of the 4,800 available hotel rooms for its use. As was the case with the Ryder Cup, and with the EAA AirVenture fly-in, attendees are expected to stay in hotels, short-term rentals and campsites from Door County to Milwaukee and Madison.

More:Coming to Green Bay for the 2025 NFL draft? Here's how close you can stay to Lambeau Field

The draft is a family-friendly event. Draft observers from Green Bay have commented on how surprised they were with how many children were in attendance at drafts in Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit. Molinari said Kansas City had one draft-related arrest and Detroit had none.

"There were no issues, no safety concerns. Both locals and out-of-towners were super well-behaved," he said. "There are fans, this is like a pilgrimage to them. I've been to every draft since Cleveland (2021). There are people that I recognized (at Detroit's draft)."

More:Brown County plans to open campgrounds, offer football-related museum exhibits for 2025 NFL draft

Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG