Visitors to the NFL draft in Green Bay later this month have an option when it comes to finding a place to stay, eat or just chill out.
They can head north to Oconto County.
The county’s border with Brown County is less than 30 minutes from Lambeau Field, where most of the draft activities will be held April 24-26.
Jayme Sellen is the executive director the Tourism and Economic Corporation for the Oconto Region (TEDCOR), an Oconto-based nonprofit group that helps promote tourism in Oconto County.
Draft organizers estimate about 240,000 will attend this year’s draft. Detroit hosted last year’s NFL Draft, which ended up drawing more than 700,000 visitors.
Unlike Detroit, however, Green Bay is the NFL’s smallest market.
Whether Green Bay draws a crowd that big remains to be seen, but Sellen said TEDCOR is doing what it can to promote Oconto County.
“We did a series of reels and videos for social media, the One Mile, One Minute campaign,” Sellen said. “Each community and some of the businesses in that community did a campaign that said, ‘Hey, we’re Oconto, Wisconsin, we’re 35 miles away from Lambeau Field and it’s a 35-minute drive.’
“It was kicked off by me or my colleague Kelly (Schwartz) kicking a football,” she said. “That person caught the football and they threw it to the next person and it promoted our communities and a lot of businesses in the area, too. It got a lot of views.”
TEDCOR’s website – tedcor.org – has information about the draft, including links to the Packers official draft information site. Details on where to park near Lambeau Field and road closures can also be found.
Also on TEDCOR’s site is a link to RiverWood Saloon & Campground, located on state Highway 22 between Oconto and Oconto Falls on the Little River. The campground and saloon will be open during the draft and offer transportation to and from Lambeau Field.
Sellen can’t say for sure if TEDCOR’s campaign will draw people to Oconto County and said she probably won’t know until the three-day event is underway.
“One thing I don’t know about is the hotels,” she said. “I know there’s availability.”
Sellen expects draft visitors to be looking for lodging in adjacent counties, including Oconto, Shawano, Outagamie, Calumet, Kewaunee and Manitowoc.
“With the numbers we were told from the Packers, there’s no way all those people can fit into the Green Bay area,” she said. “They would have to overflow to the surrounding areas. Some of them will probably go down to Appleton, but we’re hoping a good portion of them will know about us. The commute north is going to be a lot easier than (Interstate) 41 down to Appleton.”
Sellen said Oconto County is also an option for Green Bay area residents thinking about heading out of town for a few days.
“There might be some folks that live there that might want to escape some of the traffic and congestion that’s going to happen,” she said. “It’s a byproduct of a really good thing.”
Oconto County is part of New North, an 18-county regional economic development organization.
“It goes up to Florence (County) and down to Sheboygan,” Sellen said. “They are bringing in site selectors at that time. We are going to meet with them and tell them all about the opportunities here for businesses to come here. We’re looking at it from the tourism side, but we’d be foolish not to take advantage of it from an economic development side of things.”
Sellen views the Packers hosting their first NFL draft as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for football fans and Oconto County as well.
“We’re trying to take advantage of it, but we don’t know to what extent,” she said. “I think (area counties) are all in a similar spot. We don’t know what to expect. We thought the numbers would be a lot higher than they are, but I also think that there might be some last-minute ‘Oh my gosh, this is coming up, we can still get a good deal.’”
Oconto County eyeing NFL Draft visitors
