GRB – the gateway to the 2025 NFL Draft

Rich Palzewic

Staff

March 24, 2025

GREEN BAY – With the 2025 NFL Draft just around the corner, Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport (GRB) is gearing up for what organizers promise to be the biggest event the area has ever seen.

With Detroit seeing an estimated 775,000 football fans from around the globe attending the three-day event in 2024, organizers have reason to believe the 2025 event April 24-26 could top that.

One of those reasons, Marty Piette, GRB airport director, said, is because Lambeau Field is a “destination like no other” for NFL fans.

“We watched Detroit and went to Willow Run Airport to see what their general aviation side looked like,” he said. “Detroit is a much bigger city than Green Bay, so I think it was relatively easy for them to absorb the increased air traffic. It didn’t look like there was a ton of that general aviation traffic. This is going to be different – Lambeau Field is a bucket list item for many folks, so I think we’ll be quite a bit busier than Detroit.”

Though Piette said the sky around GRB will be much busier than normal in about a month, he’s looking forward to it.

“I’m excited about it and not nervous,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for the community as a whole, and the airport is a big part of the community. For those that fly in, the airport is the first thing they see and the last thing they see when they leave. Our mentality has always been to provide a first-class experience with all the amenities you’d find at a larger airport, so it’ll be nice to showcase our facility.”

Upgrades

Driving up to the airport, Piette said visitors will notice GRB is a busy place – both inside and outside of the terminal.

He said crews have been working on “terminal rehabilitation projects” for the last two or three years.

“I always call it ‘painting the front door,’” he said. “Most of the projects we do, people don’t even notice them – it’s on the airfield, taxiways, runways, lighting, etc. Many of the recent projects are public-facing… people can see what we’re doing.”

Piette said the upgrades started with a repaving and remarking of the long- and short-term parking lots.

“We removed some old highway beam guard that surrounded the parking lot and replaced that with some more aesthetic fencing,” he said. “We also added cameras and LED lighting. The next piece was the civil work – the entrance road leading in from the roundabout and the roads underneath the canopy were all reconstructed. We did new sidewalks as well and added some entrances to the parking lots. Basically, it cleaned everything up.”

Another major project, Piette said, was the reconstruction of  the canopy coming off the terminal.

“That goes over all six lanes of traffic,” he said. “Originally, we thought about just removing it completely, but the feedback we got was that people really liked the covered aspect over the lanes. What we did to that will extend its life for another 50 years. We also improved the lighting on the canopy.”

The last phase to the exterior, Piette said, was the sidewalk canopy.

“That runs along the entire length of the sidewalk in front of the terminal,” he said. “When we tore into that project to rehabilitate it, we found it wasn’t salvageable – it was way beyond its useful life. We didn’t want to put a band-aid on it, so we ended up removing it completely and poured new footings. That covers mostly the first two lanes of traffic, so when you’re loading and unloading, you’re covered.”

Piette said the directive with the work was simple – “be done by the draft.”

“The contract runs until the end of March, but I think it will be done even before that,” he said. “Maybe we could have waited a bit longer to do some of these projects, but with the draft coming, we wanted to make sure things were complete before then.”

Other upgrade highlights, Piette said, include:

• The Grand Lobby space welcomes travelers with upgraded furniture and new green spaces, which he said reflects the beauty and character of Northeast Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 
• Artwork from the Oneida Nation was installed in February throughout both concourses and will stay on display until August.
• The Sky Lounge will have new vending machines with enhanced options for food and drink.
• The arcade will be revamped to include new gaming experiences.

“As travelers arrive for the draft, the concourse lounges will also feature comfortable seating and large TVs for sports fans to enjoy games and live coverage of draft events,” Piette said. “Light catering and grab-and-go snacks inspired by Wisconsin’s local food and drink favorites will also be available for purchase.”

Piette said additional completed projects include a customer service counter, veterans’ area, Packers heritage, Packers hall, in-terminal signage, draft bikes display, family rooms, mothers’ rooms and lobby signage with routes.

The skies will be busy

Piette said there are two segments of aviation at GRB – commercial and corporate.

As an example, he said for home Packers games, you don’t see much increased traffic in the days leading up to the game.

“On the commercial side of things, we don’t typically see a big increase before the game,” he said. “I think a lot of that comes from the two- or three-night (minimum stays) from hotels in the area – people filter in kind of slowly ahead of games. The day after a game is always our busiest day – many of the flights are sold out.”

For corporate aircraft, Piette said those planes always fly in on the day of a game.

“They all come in two or three hours before a game, and you can watch them lined up for miles on their approach,” he said. “Some aircraft stay here for the game, and some go elsewhere and then come back and pick up their people after the game or the day after.”

How will a home Packers game compare to the NFL Draft?

“The short answer is, I don’t know – it’s hard to tell,” Piette said. “For the corporate side, we’re planning on the three days of the draft, but we’re also looking at the three days before the draft for set up, media, etc. and then three days after the draft for the teardown and cleanup. It will be a nine-day window we’re planning for.”

Piette said GRB has two fixed-based operators who handle general aviation aircraft –  Executive Air and Jet Air.

“We are working closely with them from a logistical perspective,” he said. “Where are we going to park all these aircraft and how are we going to park them in such a way where it doesn’t disrupt the flow, etc. We have a lot of ramp space we’ve built over the years for those Packers home games, so we know we have the capacity for at least 150 larger Gulfstream-type aircraft. We also have operational plans we work with the FAA on as far as closing down other surfaces like taxiways.”

With so many corporate planes in the air this April, Piette said GRB is implementing a reservation system.

“It will be a reservation-based system the FAA will set up through their technology,” he said. “A pilot technically has to have a reservation to fly into Green Bay during those peak periods. The tower can only handle a certain number of arrivals per hour. In some cases, that’s every couple of minutes. You need enough time for separation – for a plane to land and leave the runway before another plane comes in.”

On the commercial side, Piette said all of the airlines have responded by adding increased flights and frequencies.

He said United and American have added additional frequency to Chicago.

“American also added a nonstop flight from New York City,” he said. “Delta has added a frequency to/from Atlanta, Minneapolis and Detroit. They’ve also added nonstops from LAX (Los Angeles), Salt Lake City and New York City. Those are coming in the day before the draft and (will) leave the day after the draft.”

Piette said Delta also did something else “kind of funny.”

“They added a nonstop to Orlando the day before the draft and returning from Orlando the day after the draft,” he said. “That’s for people who want to go find some sun away from the draft and escape what might be a hectic time here.”

No matter the number of people who come to Green Bay for the draft, Piette said his staff will be prepared and ready.

“It’s an opportunity we don’t take lightly,” he said. “We’ll be ready.”