By Sarah Conery
Sarah Conery is a freelance correspondent reporting for the Steelers at the NFL Draft in Green Bay
Draft-related tourism is having an immediate economic impact on the Green Bay area. As host of the 2025 NFL Draft, Green Bay benefits from visitor spending at local gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and shops. With crowds totaling 600,000 over three days, it's the largest attendance an event in Green Bay has ever seen.
"It's our mission to bring visitors to Green Bay for the economic benefit of our community. You can't bring too many more visitors to your community than to host the NFL Draft," said Brad Toll, CEO of Discover Green Bay. When it comes to measuring the success of bringing the Draft to Green Bay, Toll shared that an economic impact study is underway, which will gather data on hotel occupancy rates, visitor spending, lodging taxes, and other key metrics.
Another benefit to hosting a large event like the Draft is the media coverage and exposure the host city or destination receives. "It's a three-day commercial that is seen by 55 million people and that's terrific for a community" explained Toll. In addition to the economic impact study, surveying was conducted during the event to understand what first time visitors think of their time in Green Bay. This feedback will be used to craft compelling advertisements, to increase tourism to the city over the next few years.
Hosting the NFL Draft has allowed Discover Green Bay to showcase the city's ability to host large scale events. "They're looking at your destination saying 'Wow if they can host a draft, they can likely host my event too,'" Toll said. Discover Green Bay plans to use their experience hosting the Draft as a sales tool to encourage more organizations to choose Green Bay when planning their next event.
As Pittsburgh prepares to host the 2026 Draft, there is a spirit of collaboration amongst organizations. Toll shared "Detroit was wonderful to us, an open book, and we will do the same for Pittsburgh. We'll answer any questions, give them any of the documents we created." Jeremy Waldrup, President of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, stated "We have a lot to learn from Green Bay and Detroit." As the Draft nears, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will be working on "Curating an experience for first time visitors to Pittsburgh that is memorable and impactful," said Waldrup.
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, is a non-profit community development organization that aims to bring corporate, philanthropic, and government leaders together on a vision for downtown Pittsburgh. Waldrup is looking forward to the next year and NFL Draft being hosted in Pittsburgh as the event will bring development and improvement projects to the downtown area prior to Draft attendees arriving in the Steel City. When speaking to the city of Pittsburgh and the role of the organization, Waldrup shared "We're gritty, we're authentic, but this is an opportunity to really shine, so we want to make sure we are preparing our restaurants and retailers for a meaningful and economically beneficial experience."
Visit PITTSBURGH is the official tourism and development organization for Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located. Jerad Bachar, CEO of Visit PITTSBURGH, shared that hosting the Draft will attract new visitors to the city, increase economic impact, and publicity for the city. Bachar noted that the Draft will provide "the ability to build brand Pittsburgh in a bigger way." The 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh is anticipated to bring up to $200+ million in economic impact to the region. Bachar also shared that the anticipated attendance of the event will be between 500,000 to 700,000.
Bachar spoke to the economic development benefits of hosting the 2026 Draft noting the considerable amount of investment that is going into the downtown area in particular. "The draft being there has invigorated investments in certain key areas like the Market Square District… there is another area called Arts Landing which is in the downtown area that is owned by the Pittsburgh cultural trust, right in the heart of our cultural district. That development will be mostly done by the time the Draft gets here." Additionally noting State planned investments bringing upgrades to Point State Park, located in Pittsburgh, ahead of the Draft, Bachar stated "those investments will live on far beyond the Draft, really impacting positively our residents and future visitors."
