ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – In just around 11 months, Titletown will welcome hundreds of thousands of football fans for the 2025 NFL Draft, affecting not just Green Bay, but the surrounding communities.
“The overall statewide impact would be 94 million dollars,” Ashwaubenon Village Manager Joel Gregozeski said. “Based on the experiences that the state of Michigan had as well as the city of Detroit, if we see the same type of numbers that they saw at our draft, that number will be shattered.”
That includes Ashwaubenon. On Tuesday night, village leaders let the board in on some of what’s already being done.
“We don’t necessarily at this present time have a whole lot of activation and engagement with the NFL,” Gregozeski said. “We felt it was necessary for us internally to become more activated in planning and preparing.”
They’ve now established five committees to focus on different areas. They include beautification of the area…
“We recognize that we have corridors that we have an opportunity to clean or make more presentable environment for visitors,” Gregozeski said.
Marketing, promotion and information for locals…
“What does this look like when the road gets closed for how long, what are the detours, how can I get to and from church, to the grocery store?” Gregozeski said.
Business involvement and operations…
“Public safety and public works are a big part of the operations so they’re actively meeting with the NFL, Packers and Discover Green Bay and planning the security protocols that are going to be necessary,” Gregozeski said.
And pre-planning and logistics. These are currently just plans, nothing is confirmed, including some of the major set pieces like the draft stage and potential road closures as a result.
“On or near Oneida street, so I would anticipate that Oneida street would be closed,” Gregozeski said. “That stage will be eventually be tied into the Resch Expo. The Expo will likely be used as that backstage area.”
Officials say they expect the stage to be about half the size of the Resch Center. That stage could take up to eight weeks to construct and another two to take down.
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