Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
Green Bay's Journey to Hosting the NFL Draft
What does it take to transform a city into a premier destination for one of sports' biggest events? Join us as we sit down with Brad Toll, President and CEO of Discover Green Bay, and Nick Meisner, Vice President of Digital Marketing and Communications for the organization. Brad and Nick pull back the curtain on the eight-year effort to bring the 2025 NFL Draft to Green Bay. From a crucial trip to London to the logistical hurdles of enhancing local infrastructure, their stories reveal the dedication and passion driving this monumental effort that is expected to drive significant economic impact for the city and state of Wisconsin.
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Brad Toll:For many people in Green Bay the opportunity to go see a draft is probably somewhat limited, so to be able to bring this to our community and have them be able to go the event itself is free, so to have them have the opportunity to experience this is really pretty cool- this is a showcase to the world that Green Bay is on the map.
Nick Meisner:We're here. We're more than just football. There's so much going on and we can do big things. And if we can host the NFL draft and we know it's going to be successful, there's not much we can do big things. And if we can host the NFL draft and we know it's going to be successful, there's not much we can't host.
Bill Von Bank:Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism and much more to economic development and entrepreneurism, and much more. I'm your host, bill Vaughn Bank. As the NFL season gets underway, green Bay is already gearing up for a major event on the horizon the 2025 NFL Draft, set to take place at Lambeau Field next April. Hosting the draft is no small feat and requires extensive planning and collaboration. Today, I'm joined by two key players leading the charge Brad Toll, president and CEO of Discover Green Bay, and Nick Meisner, vice President of Digital Marketing and Communications for the organization. Brad and Nick, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, thank you. Thanks for having us. Well, we're going to talk a lot about NFL Green Bay, but first I want to learn a little bit more about each of you and your background, brad.
Brad Toll:I actually have been in the tourism industry nearly 40 years and a good part of that time was in the Twin Cities, so I'm very familiar with Minnesota, thrilled to be here in the state again and love tourism. I've it visits St Paul in both the sales, trying to bring big groups in, as well as in the marketing area communication, so it's been an awesome career, Nick. How about you?
Nick Meisner:Yeah, I've been with Discover Green Bay for about three years now, just over, and my background is more in the marketing and comm side of things. Growing up, I wanted to be a sports journalist. I wanted to write for Sports Illustrated magazine. That was, you know, that was my dream. I was subscribed to Sports Illustrated for kids.
Nick Meisner:I wanted to do that cool stuff and, yeah, I ended up in the public relations side and kind of worked for the agency side quite a bit and wanted to get back to doing something community focused quite a bit and wanted to get back to doing something community focused. So when I learned about Discover Green Bay in the opening that they had in their marketing team just growing up in Green Bay I've lived there my whole life the opportunity to just promote it as a cool place to come visit really intrigued me and three years in I haven't looked back. I love the travel and tourism industry. I think I found my vocation in that, because it's getting to wake up every day and talk about a place that I love and is my home is really, really cool and I should say we're not in Green Bay today, we are in Rochester, minnesota for the Upper.
Bill Von Bank:Midwest Convention and Visitors Bureau Convention About 200 attendees from all over the Midwest. Rochester's happy to host it and certainly happy to have Green Bay here and both of you on the podcast. So April 2025, looking ahead to that, Brad, that's a big time for you. How did Green Bay land the NFL draft?
Brad Toll:What's been a process, as you might imagine, we've been at it probably eight years. Well, really, when they left New York, we took a look at the size of Radio City Music Hall, number of seats it had. We've got facilities in Green Bay that could actually do about 2,000 more than Radio City, so we knew that we had a facility to work with and we started that process. Then those initial bids were a letter that you had to send in saying how many hotel rooms you had, how much meeting space. You had to send in saying how many hotel rooms you had, how much meeting space you had in the area. Now it's about a 65 page request for proposal and our bid was probably 350 pages long.
Brad Toll:So we bid on 22, which in 2020, it was supposed to be in Vegas and with the pandemic, obviously they weren't able to do it, so they gave Vegas 22. So then we bid on 24. And that ended up going to Detroit. It was between us, detroit and Washington DC. And then we bid on 27. And we went to London with the team and promoted tourism over in the London area, talked to tour operators, travel journalists, and after the game we ran into the NFL event staff and they couldn't believe how many Packer fans were there from all over the European area. And we got back and two weeks later they asked us to bid on 25. And we did.
Bill Von Bank:Here we go. So it took a trip to London to make that happen. Is what you're saying.
Brad Toll:Well, I think so it didn't hurt the process. A lot of Packer fans over there helped.
Nick Meisner:Yeah it didn't hurt the process to show out in London for sure, nick, it's a massive undertaking, right. It's a lot.
Bill Von Bank:Tell us some of the logistical challenges you're preparing for.
Nick Meisner:When you're talking about bringing any big event to a small or medium market city. Talking about bringing any big event to a small or medium market city, you have to take into consideration how many people want to be involved, want to be in the know, and there was a ton of excitement when the announcement happened and, of course, on our end we celebrated the heck out of it when it was announced. And then you kind of come back down to earth and the phone starts ringing and the questions start coming what streets are going to be closed? How am I going to get to work? How can I get involved? You know, how can my business make money off of this?
Nick Meisner:And you kind of begin to realize that, yeah, this is going to be a massive, massive community effort. And Brad talks about this a lot when we talk about the draft and you look at the other CVBs that have hosted and we're talking 30 people, $20 million budgets. You know, I think Brad talked to his counterpart in Cleveland and he said yeah, brad, it's not a big deal, just hire three people and you'll be fine.
Brad Toll:No big deal.
Nick Meisner:Yeah, since we have 14, that's quite an increase in staffing and the Green Bay Packers have been just really great partners. They've come in and they've taken just a ton on and really we've created the local organizing committee, or the LOC, which is Discover Green Bay, the Green Bay Packers and then PMI Entertainment Group, which owns and operates the Rush Center and Rush Expo, which is right where the footprint and staging area is going to be in their facility is going to be very highly used. So from the logistical side we have a couple of committees that are really active right now.
Nick Meisner:Parking and transportation has been a big undertaking, finding thousands and thousands of spots, and it's interesting because you don't think about some of the things like, hey, where are they going to park all of their semi trucks that bring in all of the staging and all of the fencing? Where's the security going to park? So it's more than just you know where the fans are going to park, how the shuttles are going to run, how we can make sure traffic patterns stay fluid. All of those sorts of things are critical, and right now that's a big one. And then Brad has been working closely with elected officials as well, keeping them in the know.
Brad Toll:Yeah, you know, all the questions that are coming into our office are being asked of a lot of the elected officials the mayor, county executive so we learned early on they're much more supportive when you keep them informed.
Bill Von Bank:Imagine that yeah.
Brad Toll:Imagine that and even to be able to tell them what things we don't know because there is. It's the NFL's event to tell them what things we don't know. Because it's the NFL's event, we're not running it. So basically they call us and say we need another spot for 50 more semi-trailers and it's our job to go secure that space and make certain they have what they need. So that communication every two weeks we're talking to that group to make certain they're informed.
Bill Von Bank:And how is the community rallying behind this? They're excited.
Brad Toll:I mean, you know they're proud of the community and a lot of them live right in that neighborhood. It's very odd in the NFL probably any professional sports facility to have a stadium sit right across the street from a neighborhood Family homes, people that have lived there for years. So keeping the neighborhoods involved as well, keeping them excited. But the support has been actually fabulous from a lot of these community people. You know, for many people in Green Bay, the opportunity to go see a draft is probably somewhat limited, so to be able to bring this to our community and have them be able to go the event itself is free, so to have them have the opportunity to experience this is really pretty cool.
Bill Von Bank:Green Bay has so much history, legacy behind it and charm. How do you ensure that you keep that with such a big influx of people?
Brad Toll:Yeah, that actually was a big part of our pitch when we were trying to get the NFL to look at us to bring the draft in. We have a ton of tradition and history with the team. It goes back over 100 years. The Packers were actually playing football a couple of years before the NFL even existed and during that time a lot of cool traditions have come along. In the Lombardi days, neighborhood kids including Nick would bring their bike over and players had a short walk through the stadium parking lot and over to the practice field. So the neighborhood kids would bring their bikes and the players would ride those bikes over to the practice fields.
Brad Toll:What happens still today? Except cars from California and all over the country come with their bikes attached to the back. So you have to be pretty lucky to have a player pick you today. But we're looking at how we can take some of those traditions and bring them forward. There'll be a bike ride where all of the teams will have bikes all wrapped in their team colors and kids from those cities will be able to ride. We're working on the logistics of all of that. But some cool things to bring those traditions and that history forward we'll see if we can get you the vikings bike there bro I'll take it.
Bill Von Bank:I'll take it. We'll keep the border battle rhetoric to a minimum all, all right, there you go. But, nick, you are a Green Bay kid, so what does this mean to you?
Nick Meisner:Yeah, oh man, that's a great question. My child at home was three blocks from Lambeau Field. We parked cars in our yard. I was a bike kid. It's really, really cool. Just taking this beyond the NFL draft, because I just want to note how much has gone into economic and community development that led us to being able to get this. When I was growing up in Green Bay around Lambeau Field, it was a tin barn. It was just a big metal building. Where Titletown sits now was a Kmart and a crappy movie theater and a pawn store. I got kicked out of because I didn't have enough money to buy the actual cards but that's in here and over there.
Nick Meisner:It's more than just the draft for a guy like me who grew up in Green Bay, and it's more about what's led to getting the draft. It's the downtown development. You never used to go downtown in Green Bay. Now there's the Riverwalk and the City Deck and a thriving community that is a destination year round and especially in the summer for boating and things like that. And and without those community developments we would have never been here. We would have never gotten the draft if it was like it was when I was growing up in the area.
Nick Meisner:So I think it's a testament to not only what the Packers have done, the growth of the NFL, how it's impacted our community, but also all of the communities around Green Bay and the support that elected officials had in making it a better place to live and work and play. That led to this penultimate achievement of bringing an event like the NFL draft. I think we look at the draft as like okay, we made it, we got it, but I think elevate us to heights beyond as we look forward into 2026, 2027, 2030, 2035. And I think it's going to shape what Green Bay looks like as a whole.
Bill Von Bank:Hey, brad, obviously in your role you are charged with vibrancy and bringing visitors to town and really shaping the economic impact and helping to keep taxes low for residents, et cetera, et cetera. Give us the economic impact of an event like this for your community.
Brad Toll:Well, the early estimates are about $20 million for the Green Bay area and you know, in my opinion that's probably still pretty low, but we wanted to be conservative coming out of the gate. The actual economic impact for the state of Wisconsin is about 94 million and a lot of that comes from the studies that we've looked at Cleveland and Kansas City. In those areas we learned that about 65% of the attendees drive. So it's a drive market event and if you're familiar with the geography of Wisconsin and where Green Bay sits, you either swim to Green Bay or you drive through the state of Wisconsin. So folks that will be coming and cheering on the draft picks for the Vikings will likely be driving from the west all the way through the state. So we know that gas stations, restaurants, hotels will be busy throughout the state and that will really drive the economic impact. So it's a great opportunity.
Brad Toll:Some of the promotions we've done so far we did one where the football rode the ferry across Lake Michigan and there was the handoff of the football to Wisconsin for Michigan and then we took it by bike from Milwaukee up to Green Bay, so riding all the different trails in Wisconsin, talking about the beautiful recreation that's available there we have. The agriculture industry is involved now with corn mazes. Nfl Shield is all done in a corn maze which, just looking at those, I think if I went in I'd be there for some time Possibly a couple of weeks trying to find my way back out, but we're trying to involve the state in it.
Brad Toll:We received a few dollars from the state for marketing, so we want to be sure people know more than just Green Bay, that they know about Wisconsin and the opportunities that are available there In terms of like a sphere around Green Bay?
Bill Von Bank:are you working closely with other cities nearby Because obviously there's going to be compression with hotels and the need for people to stay further away because you're going to be full.
Brad Toll:Yeah, we are. We have newsletters that we send to all of our DMO partners, destination marketing organizations throughout the state, certainly through the Department of Tourism in Wisconsin as well. We communicate regularly. There's a website that Nick is working on and we have all of our DMO communities listed on there and if people go into that they can go to that community and find lodging, availability, restaurants in each of those communities. Yeah, green Bay we have about 5,000 hotel rooms in Green Bay. The NFL took about 3,000 of those, so there's not a lot of room for extra guests to overnight there. But throughout the Fox River Valley there's thousands of additional rooms down toward Milwaukee, madison, out to the west toward Wausau. So definitely keeping all those DMOs in the loop and so they know what's going on has been very important, nick.
Bill Von Bank:what can attendees expect in terms of fan experiences, special attractions and other draft-related events?
Nick Meisner:We'll just start kind of what to expect in the footprint of the NFL draft and then we can kind of go out a little bit. So the best way I've described the NFL draft if you've never been is it is a football festival. It is like a state fair, but football-themed. There is the NFL fan experience, which there's Vince Lombardi trophies that you folks from Minnesota can come see for the first time.
Bill Von Bank:We're going to edit that out.
Nick Meisner:There's displays from every team, there's jerseys, there's player appearances, there's all the Super Bowl rings on display, there's merch tables, so we're talking acres of activities for all ages and it really is a family event. There's strollers you see everywhere when you're in the draft footprint. There's kids engaging, there's local food stands. We can't forget to talk about the taste of the draft, which will highlight some Wisconsin and Green Bay cuisine at some of the food vendors. So what I really have enjoyed about working with the NFL on what the fan experience is going to be like is they're not saying, hey, control C, control V, detroit to Green Bay. They're making it a Green Bay draft.
Nick Meisner:It is going to be Wisconsin themed, there's going to be agriculture and outdoor recreation and all of this stuff kind of brought in to the experience. So you know you're in Wisconsin when you're there. And then, of course, there's the draft theater, which is where all the picks will be made, where there'll be live music, entertainment, all sorts of things going on on the stage outside of just making the selections, as you kind of go outside of the footprint. Our community is stepping up for this thing. I mean, there's going to be when the draft hours are not going on. There's going to be parties, there's going to be fan gatherings, there's going to be family activities and farmer's markets. There's going to be a booyah cook-off downtown Green Bay If you're not right, inside the draft footprint. There's really going to be opportunities to experience the Green Bay culture around the city as well. So it's going to be a really, really big event.
Brad Toll:Brad, what legacy do you hope the 2025 NFL draft will leave for Green Bay? Well, we're very fortunate working with the NFL. They have a lot of things that they like to do as far as leaving a legacy from building playgrounds, you know, supporting food shelves and different things like that. You know, I think what we're hoping, with 70 million or so people watching it on TV, that they realize it's we're not frozen all the time, and I know Minnesota kind of gets that rap too.
Brad Toll:People love to show where the coldest place in the country is, you know, and morning shows, but we're hoping for beautiful weather so that people across the country, around the see that it's a very beautiful place. And, you know, with a lot of the shots of the city and talking about some of the stories, some of those traditions and histories. You know we're known for the Packers, but there's a lot more in the area than just a football team Our history actually, we're one of the oldest communities in the state of Wisconsin and that dates back hundreds of years before the Packers showed up. It's a great opportunity for us to tell our story. It's a three-day commercial, if you will that goes out to millions of households.
Bill Von Bank:One final question for both of you. What does it mean to you personally to see Green Bay host such a significant national event? Nick?
Nick Meisner:It's just a lot of pride. I think one of the things that I want to see taken away from hosting the NFL Draft and I know this is going to sound like the little engine that could a little bit here, but we can do big things in Green Bay and it doesn't get bigger than the NFL Draft. So, like I mentioned before, this is a great accomplishment, but it's not the end for us. It's a great accomplishment but it's not the end for us. It's the beginning. This is a showcase to the world that Green Bay is on the map. We're here. We're more than just football. There's so much going on and we can do big things. And if we can host the NFL draft and we know it's going to be successful there's not much we can't host.
Brad Toll:For me. I think it's really the opportunity for our community, our residents in particular, to be able to experience the event. You know, as we've been on it I've gone to probably six or seven of these now and the opportunity for our residents to be able to go, and it's right in our backyard I'm really excited about.
Bill Von Bank:I've enjoyed going and it's very cool to be able to bring this to our community and have them experience it From a Minnesotan.
Nick Meisner:I can say I do have NFC pride for you.
Bill Von Bank:I love that it's going to be great. I think it's great for regional tourism and Minnesota might even see some of the benefit to that. So congratulations to both of you, best wishes in the planning because I know it's a lot and thank you both for being our guests on the Growing Destinations podcast. Thank you very much, thanks for having us, thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
