GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Andy Neumann moved out of Wisconsin a dozen years ago and now lives in Georgia, where he generally doesn’t have to worry about temperatures in the 50s after Easter.
But he also is a Green Bay Packers shareholder, and nothing was going to stop him from attending the NFL draft at the home of the league's only publicly owned team. So he flew from his home in Savannah to visit relatives in Minnesota, then drove more than four hours to catch Thursday’s first round outside Lambeau Field.
“I was prepared for cooler weather,” Neumann said, wearing a Packers jersey with Ray Nitschke's name on the back. “I have all my sweaters in my suitcase.”
Neumann had plenty of company.
Having the draft in the NFL’s smallest market assured that it wouldn’t approach the record total of 775,000 fans over three days that the league said attended last year’s version in Detroit.
Yet there still was quite a crowd, as evidenced by the homeowners charging $100 or more for parking in the neighborhoods surrounding the stadium.
As he opened the draft, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said there were “125,000 people here and still counting.” By the end of the night, the NFL estimated the crowd had reached 205,000.
The Packers posted on social media shortly after the start of the draft that general admission entry had been paused because “the event venue has reached maximum capacity” — without providing any specifics about how many people were allowed in. Admission is free, making crowd estimates an inexact science.
“Green Bay may be small, but it’s mighty,” Goodell said.
The city has a population of less than 110,000, although more than 300,000 live in the metropolitan area.
Goodell started the draft by riding a bicycle onto the stage, a nod to a Packers’ training camp tradition in which players borrow children’s bikes to ride from their locker room at Lambeau Field to the practice fields. He was joined by rapper and Packers fan Lil Wayne and several former Packers, including Clay Matthews, who thrilled the Green Bay fans by taking the microphone and joking that he had a message from President Donald Trump that said, “My fellow Americans, the Bears still suck!”
The crowd gave a thunderous response and chanted “Go! Pack! Go!” when Green Bay used the 23rd overall pick on Texas' Matthew Golden, marking the first time the Packers have used a first-round pick on a wide receiver since taking Florida State's Javon Walker 20th overall in 2002.
Yet this wasn’t a Packers-only event. The crowd featured a rainbow of jerseys from across the league.
Justin Ramos and Kyle Polinski both attended the draft when it took place in Chicago, where they live, in 2015 and 2016. But they always wanted to visit Lambeau and considered this a prime opportunity.
They said they didn’t even get much grief for wearing Caleb Williams Bears jerseys.
“The Wisconsinites are very nice. ... Some ‘Bears suck’ here and there, but it’s been pretty good,” Polinski said.
Larry Laurello of Ashtabula, Ohio, had an entirely different reason for bringing his Browns-themed party bus all the way to Green Bay for this draft.
“First time we’ve had a (first-round) pick in four years,” Laurello said as he sported a Bernie Kosar jersey. “Got to show up.”
Laurello wasn’t fazed by driving 10 hours to get to the draft.
“We’ve taken our bus to Seattle from Cleveland before, for games,” he said.
Green Bay’s status as a unique draft site goes beyond its smaller size. The Packers leaned into the Packers’ rich history by making Lambeau a featured part of the event.
Projected first-round picks made a red-carpet entrance Thursday that led them into the stadium. Thousands of fans already had gathered in the stands by that point to watch the draft on the end-zone scoreboards.
Atlanta Falcons fan Tyrone Pritchett lives in Detroit and attended last year’s draft in the heart of the Motor City's downtown. Pritchell said this draft had a different feel because the stadium was such a big part of the setting.
The Lambeau atmosphere was different from usual.
Ryan Babcock of Milwaukee had been anticipating this night for months. He arrived in an RV and wearing a green-and-gold jersey that said “Draft Day-Green Bay” with the number 25. He regularly attends Packers games but said this scene was crazier than a typical NFL Sunday because of the larger crowd.
“Everything is so good, so far,” he said.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
