Why Green Bay bars and restaurants want to stay open until 4 a.m. during 2025 NFL draft and other changes

GREEN BAY - Green Bay area bars and restaurants want to be able to stay open until 4 a.m. for a nine-day period that includes the 2025 NFL draft.

The two-hour later closing time was one of five requests the Brown County Tavern League and City Council member Brian Johnson asked the city's Protection & Policy Committee on Monday to consider. The package of proposals would seek to maximize the opportunities and address the logistical realities that come with hundreds of thousands of visitors in Green Bay for the draft, scheduled for April 24-26, 2025.

Tavern League officials in recent months have started discussions with city of Green Bay staff about possible changes and they expect to begin similar discussions with other Brown County communities soon with a goal to create consistent rules regarding alcohol for businesses and patrons alike, whether they're in Ashwaubenon, Green Bay or Howard. The changes requested in Green Bay would take effect from April 19-28, 2025, the Saturday before the draft until the Monday after it.

The proposals ensure the region makes a good impression on visitors and that those visitors can safely travel around the Green Bay area, support local businesses and avoid long lines to shop, eat or drink, said Tera Hansen, president of the Brown County Tavern League and owner of State Street Pub.

"We don't want to fail on this. It's going to be huge," Hansen said. "We want to work together on this."

The later closing time mirrors changes Gov. Tony Evers approved in December to allow bars and restaurants in 14 Wisconsin counties to stay open until 4 a.m. when Milwaukee hosts the Republican National Convention, July 15-18. The Green Bay area also would need state approval to change the closing time for bars and restaurants.

Johnson said the Tavern League has focused on solutions that could make it easier for city staff to manage an influx of permit and special event requests, for business owners to prepare for such an enormous event, and to ensure visitors get to see and support the entire community, not just businesses near Lambeau Field.

"You have to do that to create a really positive visitor experience. You’re moving a lot of people around. To create flexibility is important," Johnson said.

Here's a look at each of the five requests.

More 2025 NFL draft coverage: Want to rent your home on Airbnb when Green Bay hosts the 2025 NFL draft? What to know

Extend bar close from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

The request might seem like a desire to serve customers for longer, but it's borne in part out of experience with the last Packers home playoff game, on Jan. 22, 2022, versus the San Francisco 49ers. After midnight, Hansen got a call from an employee who said patrons who wanted to use the tavern league's SafeRide program faced three-hour waits that would have extended past the 2 a.m. closing time and prices above $200 for a ride.

SafeRide is a Tavern League of Wisconsin program that since 2004 has provided more than 1 million free rides home from more than 2,000 tavern league bars for patrons who have had too much to drink.

The 4 a.m. closing time would allow more time for Uber or taxi drivers or the tavern league itself to shuttle more people home without either forcing them out onto sidewalks to wait or risk them driving when they shouldn't to their hotel or residence because the bar closed at 2 a.m.

Don Mjelde, the eastern district vice president for the Tavern League of Wisconsin and owner of Richard Craniums bar, said not every tavern and restaurant will stay open until 4 a.m., but that those who need to would be able to. And like with the RNC effort, Mjelde said the state tavern league will ask the state Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers to enact the change for Brown County and several surrounding counties expected to host large crowds of draft visitors.

Allow the sale and consumption of beer, wine and liquor on Green Bay and Brown County streets and sidewalks

This would mirror Packers home game day approaches that allow fans headed to Lambeau Field to carry open bottles of beer, wine and liquor with them on streets and sidewalks.

The tavern league cited three key reasons for this:

• Consistency across communities. Locals may obsess over what's Ashwaubenon and what's Green Bay, but a visitor in town for the draft won't realize laws regarding open containers could change when they cross Lombardi Avenue.

• Most of the draft activities will be outside and businesses will need to offer convenient, quick service.

• They said relying solely on the bars and sales areas in licensed bars and restaurants would create extremely long lines.

Hansen said a bar owner she knows in Kansas City, which hosted the 2023 NFL draft, told her of visitors who had to wait two hours for a drink and seven hours for a meal. It's the type of story Hansen does not want visitors to Green Bay to relay to coworkers and friends when they return home after the draft.

Let bars and restaurants use their parking lots to serve more patrons

Akin to COVID-19-era provisions, bar and restaurant owners would once again be allowed to turn their parking lots and unused public spaces into areas for alcohol service and for patrons to sit. It maximizes space with so many more people in town and enables restaurants or bars to serve more customers quicker.

"It’s something we should be able to accommodate," Johnson said.

To improve efficiency, Hansen said the city agencies could streamline the details and information they need, give establishments a set deadline, and approve all applications at once rather than get bogged down in individual application reviews in the months ahead.

Have a city staff person coordinate and expedite the process to get streets closed for Green Bay draft parties

The tavern league recognizes not every street with a bar or restaurant would be able to request a closure, but the group hopes to bring residents, business owners, Green Bay Public Works, public safety agencies and others together to see if there are areas where it would be allowable, said Robert Heinritz, a Brown County Tavern League board member and owner of XS Nightclub.

The group wants to make it easier for restaurants and bars to request street closures for parties during the draft and for city of Green Bay staff to expedite the review process.

Help fund and market plans for an expanded SafeRide program during the NFL draft

To avoid the high-priced Ubers and long waits, the tavern league wants to expand its SafeRide program into more of a shuttle service during the draft. Johnson said he sees opportunities to pursue grants or other funding sources to help.

Shuttle buses would increase the number of SafeRides it could provide people back to their hotels or Airbnb rentals, but they also could help get the thousands of visitors to and from the draft zone near Lambeau Field much easier. Mjelde said the tavern league wants to see if the city can help fund such a program and also to help consistently promote things to know about going to the draft, such as what you can carry into the draft grounds.

"This is all about how Green Bay looks when it's done," Mjelde said. "We want to provide everyone the best experience possible."

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay bars, restaurants request 5 license changes for 2025 NFL draft