Upper Peninsula counties anticipate 2025 NFL Draft

UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WLUC) - U.P. counties may expect an influx of visitors in 2025.

The NFL Draft will be taking place in Green Bay.

The Packers estimate 250,000 fans will come to Green Bay for the draft. There are about 10,000 combined hotel rooms between Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh.

With so many fans expected to attend the draft, some may turn to nearby U.P. counties for lodging.

“When you think about almost four Packer games happening at once and how many people are going to be just two hours from here,” said Visit Escanaba CEO Robert Micheau. “It will probably end up resulting in people coming to Escanaba and Delta County to stay for the game.”

Micheau said there are more than 1,000 hotel rooms available in Delta County.

He also said there was a sense of excitement after the NFL’s Announcement.

“There’s definitely a buzz about this with the hotel properties and the fact all these extra people will be coming into the area,” Micheau said. “I think we’ll get a good gauge of what they can expect from this year’s draft when it’s in Detroit to see how it impacts lower Michigan and how far people head up north for this draft.”

On the Wisconsin and Michigan border sits Marinette and Menominee Counties. There are more than 15 hotels around that border.

Despite this, Marinette Menominee Chamber of Commerce CEO Jacqueline Boudreau said there is an increased demand for hotel rooms.

She said there will be two more hotels built to combat this demand.

“There is a hotel, Holiday Inn Express, that should be completed by the end of this summer for sure in Marinette,” Boudreau said. “Then there is one in Menominee that probably will be completed next year.”

There have been no confirmed dates for the NFL Draft. Some hotels may not take reservations more than a year in advance.

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