Green Bay area Republicans seek $1.25M from state to reimburse safety costs of NFL draft

About 250,000 people are expected to descend on Green Bay next week for the NFL draft. Republican lawmakers from the region say they’ll seek more than $1 million in the next state budget to reimburse local law enforcement agencies tasked with keeping it safe.

State Reps. David Steffen, R-Howard, and Ben Franklin, R-De Pere, said they want to add language in the next two-year budget to carve out $1.25 million for the event. The funding would cover two-thirds of the cost local law enforcement and fire departments expect to incur during the 2025 NFL draft, which runs from April 24 to April 26.

The lawmakers want to split the state aid among four agencies: 

• Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department ($75,000)
• Brown County Sheriff’s Office ($500,000)
• Green Bay Police Department ($475,000)
• Green Bay Metro Fire Department ($200,000)

In an interview with WPR, Steffen said law enforcement agencies in Brown County are incurring a “tremendous amount of expenses” related to ensuring public safety during the event.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and it has once-in-a-lifetime costs. So, we’re hoping to have some state assistance with covering those costs,” Steffen said.

The two-thirds reimbursement figure for the agencies is “a reasonable ask” for taxpayers from across Wisconsin, Steffen said, because two-thirds of an estimated $96 million is expected to be spent outside Brown County by attendees.

In the current state budget passed in 2023, $2 million was set aside as a grant for the Experience Greater Green Bay Corporation to assist with costs associated with draft.

Steffen said Wisconsin is expecting to bring in sales tax revenues of between $4.5 and $5 million, so the added money for public safety agencies is reasonable.

“The state of Wisconsin is still going to turn a profit off of this,” Steffen said.

Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis told WPR that crafting the public safety plan for the 2025 draft has been going on for about a year and included visits to Kansas City and Detroit, which hosted the draft in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Davis said NFL drafts are usually held in large cities, but the Green Bay event next week is unique because it will span three different policing jurisdictions. He said a governance group was formed that included leaders from the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department and the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.

Davis said his department is used to handling Green Bay Packers games at Lambeau Field, but the draft “is an order of magnitude bigger than a Packer game.”

“This funding from the state certainly would be very welcome,” Davis said. “In our case, we’re looking at around $475,000 [from the state], which is a little less than half of what that will cost the Green Bay Police Department to staff this event properly. So, we are definitely grateful to be having this conversation right now.”

If the state budget remains on track, Steffen acknowledged the funding for Green Bay area public safety agencies still won’t be available until this summer or fall.

“However, as long as the police and fire departments are aware that the money is coming, they’re not as concerned with carrying that expense for a period of time,” Steffen said.