JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In the offseason, NFL teams select the best college football players in the country to join their rosters. This year, the draft is being held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the NFL's smallest market. It's broadcast on TV, and it's also a big, three-day on-site festival for football fans and the teams they love. And all of that excitement and investment can be a boon for the host city. Wisconsin Public Radio's Joe Schulz reports.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Go, Pack, go. Go, Pack, go.
JOE SCHULZ, BYLINE: This has been an exciting moment for Green Bay Packers fans and for plenty of others. On the first night of the draft, the NFL says more than 200,000 people showed up. That's roughly twice the population of Green Bay. As chants filled the Lambeau Field parking lot, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell welcomed everyone from an event stage outside the stadium.
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ROGER GOODELL: Welcome to the 2025 NFL draft here in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(CHEERING)
SCHULZ: And later, when Packers president Mark Murphy announced Green Bay's first-round pick Thursday night was wide receiver Matthew Golden, the crowd erupted again before he even said the player's name.
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MARK MURPHY: For the first time since 2002...
MURPHY: ...Wide receiver.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) Texas (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting) Golden, Golden, Golden.
MURPHY: ...Matthew Golden.
(CHEERING)
SCHULZ: It's the first time in more than two decades that the Packers have been able to select a wide receiver in the opening round of the draft. For many, like lifelong fan Tyler Schram, it was a long time coming.
TYLER SCHRAM: For it to actually happen on the biggest stage in Green Bay, Wisconsin, means the world to the fans.
SCHULZ: Maybe almost as much as winning the Super Bowl - but Green Bay is actually too small to host the Super Bowl. It doesn't have enough hotel rooms, and the game is typically played in the middle of Wisconsin's frigid winters. That's why Aaron Popkey, the director of public affairs for the Green Bay Packers, says it was great when the NFL decided to take the draft on the road.
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AARON POPKEY: But I think the idea of the draft was something that they could bring to communities that wouldn't necessarily get the Super Bowl. And it is our Super Bowl.
SCHULZ: The local visitors bureau and the Packers have spent nearly a decade working to bring the draft to town. Brad Toll, the president of the visitors bureau, says he hopes football's big event raises Green Bay's profile.
BRAD TOLL: Fifty-five-million-plus will actually see the draft on TV, will view it, so they will be able to see Green Bay. Imagine us trying to buy advertising where we could have that many impressions to people literally all over the world.
SCHULZ: He isn't the only one who welcomes the national spotlight. Cora Bilitz made the trip from the Milwaukee area. She says she's excited for others to experience the stadium and its atmosphere.
CORA BILITZ: I mean, I think it's great that we get to finally show off Lambeau and why Wisconsin residents love Lambeau Field so much.
SCHULZ: It's not just excited Wisconsinites, though. There are fans from all over the country supporting their teams. One of them is Kelly Basil. He's from Florida and roots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He says he attends a draft party back home each year.
KELLY BASIL: But this is my first on-site draft. I just - it's been on my bucket list, as well.
SCHULZ: Basil also says events like the draft and game-day tailgates help forge a sense of camaraderie between fans. That sense of community is one of his favorite things about the sport.
BASIL: So there's a big bonding thing that goes on with the tailgating. So that's a big part of it, especially when your team's struggling over different seasons. It's - you know, you take the good with the bad. But really, the tailgating and the bonding with family and friends - that's the most important part.
SCHULZ: The wider Green Bay community also has a slate of events throughout the city to complement the action near the stadium. The NFL draft runs through Saturday. For NPR News, I'm Joe Schulz in Green Bay.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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