GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Excitement is in the air in Titletown as the outline of the NFL Draft stage begins to appear on the ground in Lot 4 and on Oneida St.
Even for the Packers’ staff who have Super Bowl rings, this is a new kind of excitement.
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“It’s like when you get your set of Legos and you break it out of the box for the first time, you separate all the pieces and then you start building it,” Packers director of public affairs Aaron Popkey said.
Popkey credits the sponsors of the draft with helping to bring the national sporting event to Green Bay. The city must submit the bid to host the draft. Thus, a Green Bay NFL Draft host committee was created and chaired by Mike Haddad of Schreiber Foods.
“So Mark [Murphy] reached out to some folks and said, ‘I’d like to make the draft happen here in Green Bay, can you help me?’” Haddad said. “And my primary job and the job of my team was to go out and find some great organizations to help bring it to Green Bay.”
One of the first organizations Haddad turned to was Associated Bank, a mainstay partner for the Packers for decades.
“The involvement with Associated Bank, if you want to go way back, it goes back to 1919. We’ve been the bank for the Packers for 106 years,” Associated Bank president & CEO Andy Harmening said. “The question a few years ago was, ‘If we get [the draft], will you support us?’ And that was a quick yes for us.”
Harmening was pleased to report at Thursday’s internal town hall for Associated Bank employees that the company had just signed on for another 10 years to be a partner with the Packers.
The support for the team and the draft is not forgotten by Packers’ staff, as the bank aided in the early days of the franchise and a century later with the draft bid.
“They were one of the early flagship companies in the community and state that stepped up to say, ‘Hey, we will help you to host this event,'” Popkey said.
A six year process that required three bids, the finish line is now just weeks away for Haddad and all others involved.
“There’s pride in achievement, and I can say I’m one of the fortunate ones to be able to remember when this was a twinkle in the eye,” Haddad said.
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At the town hall, Nick Meisner provided an update on the draft stage construction and last words of advice for businesses.
“The NFL is very happy where we’re at from a planning perspective. The final pieces are falling into place,” Meisner said. “Businesses just need to be ready for more traffic, especially those around the footprint. Be ready to serve quickly.”
