The “red carpet” is ready. The stage is ready. The Draft Haus and a lot more are or will be ready for the 2025 NFL Draft, which opens at noon.
Or as ready as it will get. “We’re never really done,” said Kelsey Pietrangelo of NFL Events, who said tweaks, refinements and walk-throughs are pretty much continuous.
The NFL got a full taste of Wisconsin weather on the day before it launches the 2025 draft at Lambeau Field in Green Bay: In the morning, it was April, with thunder, lightning and rain, which caused the draft campus to be locked down for an hour. Later, it was June, with sunshine and temps in the high 60s. On draft day? Stay tuned.
The immense Draft Theater, which looks even bigger from under its roof, is ready for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the 15 NFL prospects attending the draft in person, and the 15 fans from each of the 32 teams who have premier seating adjacent to the stage.
On April 26, some of the paid-for seats in the Draft Theater will be removed, allowing more fans to get under the draft roof and appreciate how really big it is.
Fans also will have the opportunity to watch the red carpet event in which 15 future NFL players show their fashion sense and get the chance to realize they are about to achieve their dreams. Portions will be televised as part of NFL Network’s “NFL Draft Kickoff” with Kimmi Chex interviewing prospects.
It is the first red carpet on a field in the history of the draft, said Sebastian Martin of NFL Events.
The red carpet, in fact, is not red and it’s not a carpet. It is synthetic turf with hash marks to resemble the adjacent football field, which is mostly off limits.
The red carpet event will be from 4-6 p.m. April 24 on the visitor sideline in the Lambeau Field bowl. Fans can sit in sections 217 to 227, about 2,000 of them, to watch the ceremony just below their seats. Fans who want to attend the ceremony can enter the Lambeau Field concourse through one of the available gates and make their way to the bowl. It’s free, like most of the rest of the event.
Regular visitors to Lambeau Field will notice some changes. The Packers Pro Shop is now the NFL Shop. American Family Gate is the Green and Gold Gate, and so on, in deference to NFL sponsors. The draft is, from first to last, an NFL event, although it’s taken great pains to highlight Green Bay, Packers and Wisconsin culture.
At a ribbon-cutting for the Packers Everywhere Draft Haus, Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said dive bars, which the Draft Haus honors, “are also very popular places to watch Packers games. It allows NFL fans from near and far to immerse themselves in Wisconsin traditions and culture, and enjoy the quintessential dive bar environment right here inside the draft campus.”
Packers fan engagement manager Haylee Becker said pull tabs and shake of the day would be available inside, dive bar staples. “If you are not familiar with those games, welcome to Wisconsin. We’ll show you how to play them.”
Packers alumni also will make appearances at the Draft Haus, as they will at other venues around the stadium.
The Packers and the NFL project that attendance will be 250,000 over the three days. That is not 250,000 unique individuals, People are counted every time they enter the campus.
“Our OnePass numbers are great. They are climbing every day,” said Nicki Ewell, senior director of events for the NFL. She did not, however, say what those numbers are. That’s reserved for Goodell from the stage. “I don’t want everybody to get hung up on attendance. Detroit (which had a record 775,000 attendance) was a very urban setting in the heart of a really big city.”
Ewell said much of the labor to construct and hold the draft are locally hired. The NFL will employ some 2,200 people for the draft.
Contact Richard Ryman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG
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