GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Despite Kansas City’s loss at Lambeau Field Sunday night, one Chiefs fan is extending his playbook to Green Bay.
Among all the celebrities at Sunday night’s game between the Packers and Chiefs was Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City.
His visit was two-fold. Lucas was, of course, in Green Bay to cheer on his hometown team, but also to help counsel Green Bay as it prepares to host its first NFL Draft in 2025.
As the host city of the 2023 NFL Draft, Kansas City officials can offer relevant guidance to future host cities.
After both mayors attended the Packers game on Sunday night, they met back up again Monday to discuss the draft.
According to Genrich, “There’s no theft in ideas. We’re always really good about sharing experiences, positive and negative, and there’s not an event that’s bigger or better than the NFL Draft.”
Mayors Genrich and Lucas spent the morning discussing all aspects of the draft with community partners, like the Packers and Discover Green Bay. It’s helped local officials get an insider’s view on both the good and the bad that comes with hosting one of the NFL’s biggest events.
“The security presence and beyond is something that will make moving around a little more challenging for a few weeks in town,” said Mayor Lucas. He added, “There’s some cost, your city gets pretty busy and then there are always a few people that are cranky about having all of those out of town guests.”
However, Lucas added the exposure for the city, as well as the economic impact, far outweighed the negative.
The 2025 draft is expected to bring a quarter of a million people into Green Bay’s stadium district and the surrounding communities.
Lucas said hosting the NFL Draft created a $164 million economic impact for Kansas City. For Wisconsin, it’s projected to create a $94 million economic impact statewide, with $20 million of that in Green Bay.
City officials say they’re looking at the draft as back-to-back to-back home Packers games — three days in a row.
This is a community that’s known to punch above its weights for a very long time. We’re the smallest market in the NFL and yet we’re known as really the best experience that people will find here. There’s a lot we’ll need to do here to coordinate with the Village of Ashwaubenon, Brown County, our business partners and others throughout the community, but that’s why we’re talking about it at this stage,” said Genrich.
Mayor Lucas says hosting the NFL Draft as one of the smaller NFL cities can create leverage for other opportunities. The mayor mentioned that Kansas City was recently selected to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
“The NFL Draft isn’t really a one-off and that’s one thing that I’ve shared a lot with the mayor that is really just one of a number of great things that can come to this region thereafter.”
And if given the chance, Lucas said he would definitely agree to host a NFL Draft again.
“There’s some disruption, we’ll be realistic about that, the security presence and beyond is something that will make moving around a bit more challenging for a few weeks in town, certainly there are a lot of people who need to work together so you have busy folks from the department of public works, police, fire departments and beyond so there’s kind of that draw but to me, the cost benefit, we got a lot more benefit for brand Kansas City, I think for our businesses, for our tax revenues in connection with having the draft than actually not having such a thing.”
Both mayors say the visit was productive and they will remain in touch as Green Bay goes through the planning process.
The three-day 2025 NFL Draft will take place April 24-26, 2025.
