Green Bay Gears Up for One of the Most Distinct NFL Drafts Yet

On the eve of the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, final preparations are wrapping up for one of the most unique editions of the traveling event yet.

With a population of roughly 105,000, the league’s smallest market is set to welcome more than double that this week, with around 250,000 fans expected to attend the draft in person from Thursday to Saturday. That’s a stark contrast to previous editions of the draft, which have typically visited larger metropolitan areas with much bigger footprints.

A 250,000-square-foot stage—the NFL Draft Theater—has been constructed around the east and northeast sides of the iconic Lambeau Field, which will be featured prominently in the background of crowd shots on TV and social media.

To Lambeau Field’s western side sits the 800,000-square-foot NFL Draft Experience that annually travels to the league’s biggest offseason event, offering fans a plethora of activities and food and beverage options. The campus extends into Green Bay’s Titletown entertainment district, which opened in 2017.

Players and VIPs attending the draft will walk the red carpet inside Lambeau Field on Thursday afternoon. Fans can watch the draft from inside the stadium on its giant scoreboards.

Showtime

The NFL named the Packers and Green Bay as the hosts of the 2025 draft nearly two years ago, in May 2023.

It was always known that the small Wisconsin town wouldn’t be able to attract record-breaking crowds—this year’s projected total is about a third of last year’s high-mark numbers in Detroit. But 250,000 fans would still be tied for fifth among draft crowds since the NFL started taking it on the road in 2015.

• Detroit (2024): 775,000 
• Nashville (2019): 600,000
• Kansas City (2023): 312,000
• Las Vegas (2022): 300,000
• Philadelphia (2017): 250,000
• Chicago (2016): 225,000
• Dallas (2018): 200,000
• Chicago (2015): 200,000
• Cleveland (2021): 160,000
• Virtual (2020): N/A

As draft week approached, the average hotel price for remaining vacancies in the area was around $630 for Thursday night, and roughly $475 per night for stays throughout the entire weekend, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.