ASHWAUBENON, Wis. — On a recent Wednesday, Lambeau Field’s parking was filled with cars and a new fire truck from Chino Valley Fire awaiting a photo with the stadium in the background.
What You Need To Know
Public safety agencies from around Green Bay, Wisconsin and the federal government supported the NFL Draft
About 600,000 people attended the three-day event at Lambeau Field in April
Many of the local agencies know each other on a first-name basis
Almost three months ago, the same area was packed with a massive stage and people from all over the world for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Making sure the event stayed a safe and enjoyable experience for hundreds of thousands of visitors fell to people such as Deputy Chief Nick Kozloski of Ashwaubenon Public Safety.
“When you have a smaller community like Green Bay — we’re the smallest community to have an NFL football team — we don’t have the resources that a Chicago or New York or Los Angeles have. We have to rely on our partners, and we have to rely on their abilities to help us and us to help them,” he said. “When you know people personally, which we do, we know everybody that we work personally by a first-name basis, you’re not going to see that in a big city. Being able to have that relationship and that connection with our partners enhances our ability to do our jobs and do them well.”
Ashwaubenon provides police and fire rescue services for the village.
“The draft itself, we handled it with us, Brown County, Green Bay police, Green Bay fire, state patrol, who are all the main players on a normal game day. That’s why things flowed so smoothly,” Kozloski said. “We work together multiple times a year. Working together for this event really was no different. It was just a longer period of time.”
(Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
About 600,000 people attended the three-day draft, a figure that surpassed early projections.
Chris Davis is the chief of the Green Bay Police Department. That department was one of many local, state and federal agencies that secured the draft venue.
“We’re the smallest city by far that has ever hosted this event, so we knew we had to have everything dialed in in terms of planning,” he said. “All of the different partners from police, the sheriff’s office, the Village of Ashwaubenon, the fire service came together and stepped up in a big way.”
While the event was huge, Davis said it tapped into existing relationships between agencies.
“When we need to all come together on something like this, it’s pretty seamless because we’re all so use to working together,” he said.
(Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
Kozloski said he approached this as a once-in-a-career event to host.
“I was happy with how we represented the city and how everyone made Green Bay look great on the national stage,” he said.