UPFRONT: NFL Draft economic impact

CEO Brad Toll is with us next. Welcome back. A new report shows the NFL draft in Green Bay brought in nearly $73 million in economic impact to the green Bay region and 105 million statewide, exceeding initial projections. The new data also finding nearly $1 million in sales and room tax generated for Brown County alone. Brad Toll is CEO of Discover Green Bay. He joins us in studio. Hey, Brad, good to see you. Good to see you, Matt. Let’s start with this sales tax and the room tax generated. How far did this expand the impact outside of just Brown County. Well we we figured that it would expand all the way down to the Milwaukee area through the Fox Valley. So we were a little surprised, I think, by how much was spent in Brown County. But, you know, as you think about it, I mean, that’s where the event was. There was a lot of money spent right on that site. This report is really looking at those three days, the weekend in green Bay. What do you see, though, as the long term impact? When we talk economically for the region and the state? I think that’s what we’re even more excited about is the tourism organization. You know, we’re always looking at how to market the community and get more people to come in. But the viewership was so huge. In fact, second, most watched draft in NFL history, some of that media coverage just using our logo, discover green Bay, our brand in NFL draft 746 stories were written mostly with the tourism twist to them that would have cost us $50 million in advertising. How many people saw this that said, hey, we should go on vacation there, let’s go to training camp. Let’s hit up one of their games. Just like the RNC here in Milwaukee. There were some businesses across the city concerned just with spending and how their business would fare. The report did find a decrease in some sectors like grocery, retail stores. I mean, is that unavoidable when you bring a massive event like this to the city? It really is. And, you know, there’s we look at all kinds of events to try and attract into, into our destinations. There really isn’t one where every single business is going to do well. But again, we encourage people to look at that big picture. Have you been able to gauge that at all? This perhaps increased interest in the region as you look to the next football season? Hotel bookings or convention bookings or anything that you’re seeing that may be, you know, an immediate impact? Well, this is, you know, just totally by chance. But I was just visiting with destination leaders from throughout Wisconsin. A lot of them were saying, you know, it’s a little bit stagnant this summer, you know, not numbers that are typical a little bit slower. They sure aren’t in green Bay. We are having a fantastic year. And, you know, whether that’s coming from the attention we got from the draft, a lot of times it is it’s hard to prove that. But compared to other communities around Wisconsin, we’re having a great summer. So based off this, is green Bay going to bid for another draft in the future? Well, I would say we probably will. There’s a long line of communities waiting for the draft to come to their city, so it may be a while, but, you know, I think the NFL would welcome the opportunity to to return. It was an incredible event. I still see those overhead images outside of Lambeau. Brad Toll, the Discover Green Bay CE