MARINETTE (NBC 26) — The NFL Draft is less than a year away, and some lodging an hour's drive away is still available for $60, while rooms at Motel 6 in Green Bay were priced at $500.
- As of Wednesday afternoon, an online travel booking website showed the only available lodging in Green Bay during the NFL Draft (excluding home rentals) were Motel 6 and the Astor House bed and breakfast
- Farther north, lodging at a motel is available in Marinette during the draft for $60, according to a travel booking website
- The owner of two bed & breakfasts in Marinette expects her property's rates will triple for the Draft
(The following is a transcript of the broadcast story.)
I’m Jon Erickson in Marinette, and we’re about an hour away from Green Bay.
With the countdown now on to the NFL Draft in Green Bay next year, a tourism official here and the owner of several bed and breakfasts both hope Draft visitors bring a business boom to town.
There’s a lot of history at [the Lauerman House Inn] bed and breakfast in Marinette...
Owner Jean Moore-Mallory says the owner of a one-time department store in town originally built it.
But we’re here to talk about the future.
Specifically, next April and the NFL Draft in Green Bay.
"So, do you believe that you will be able to sell out during the Draft?" [Jon Erickson asked Jean Moore-Mallory].
"Oh, definitely, we only have seven rooms here, and four at the other inn, and people love coming to this inn. So I’m sure that we will sell out and I’m sure that we will up the prices for the rooms," [said Lauerman House Inn owner Jean Moore-Mallory].
A travel booking website says a Motel 6 in Green Bay is already going for $500 a night during the Draft.
In Marinette, Moore-Mallory believes her rates will triple, and says big events like the Draft are important.
"It helps pay the bills, it helps do new projects, it helps for renovations," [said Moore-Mallory].
Autumn Timblin works for Marinette County in tourism and economic development.
"We’re expecting the hotels, and AirBnB's and all our lodging to be relatively full, come April of 2025," [during the draft, Timblin said].
Elsewhere in town, rooms during the Draft were going for as low as $60.
But... Timblin expects demand to be high.
Just over the last week, [some] available rooms [have quickly disappeared] from booking websites.
