'Busiest 24 hours that we have': Packers schedule release spikes ticket, hotel demand

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Last month's NFL Draft gave plenty of Wisconsin businesses a shot in the arm, and some got another boost Wednesday when the league released its schedule for the 2025 season. 

Ticket King, which has locations in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Minnesota's Twin Cities, planned to stay open much later than usual. The office in downtown Milwaukee typically closes a 5:00 p.m., but president John Lamoreaux said they'd stay open Wednesday until 11:00 p.m., fielding calls and emails coming in after the NFL schedule came out at 7:00 p.m.

"It's crazy. The minute the schedule drops, we have a ton of sellers, a ton of buyers," Lamoreaux said. "Tonight and tomorrow will be the busiest 24 hours that we have on a yearly basis."

Lamoreaux said even before the schedule came out, Packers season ticket holders were checking in to see what the broker would offer for tickets to high-profile games.

"They've been calling all day today before the schedule dropped," he said. "So they're excited to see what we're offering."

For the NFL, schedule release day has become yet another day in the sun for the entertainment behemoth. Aside from Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays (and now Black Friday and Christmas Day), the draft is now a destination for football fans as 600,000 people attended the three-day draft in Green Bay.

That excitement extends to the schedule release as fans begin to circle dates on their calendar. It means hotels also start fielding calls when fans find out when their team will be traveling to Wisconsin.

"Much more for the drive-in cities. You know, Detroit, even Minneapolis, Chicago, where they'll drive in," Katie Neufeld, general manager for the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel, said. "We will definitely see more room nights sold for that."

Neufeld said while hotels in and around Green Bay see more traffic on Packers home weekends, it's fairly common for fans coming from further away to also stay in Milwaukee.

"They make Lambeau kind of a bucket list experience for themselves, so they'll fly into Milwaukee, spend a couple days here, then go up to Green Bay," she said. "So, we'll see them before, they'll disappear Saturday morning, back Sunday night and out Monday morning."

At Ticket King, it'll be a bit of a balancing act for the next couple days. Lamoreaux said it can be tricky to find the right market value out of the gate for what they should offer fans looking to sell their season tickets and how much they should charge on the resale market. 

"If the tickets are selling too quickly, we'll adjust upwards," he said. "If they're not selling, we'll adjust down."

This year, Lamoreaux said he expects many Milwaukee area season ticket holders to sell some of their seats. The "Gold Package" dates back to the team playing part-time at Milwaukee County Stadium, and fans holding that package get tickets to the teams second and fifth regular season home games.

Those two games in 2025 will be a Thursday night against the Washington Commanders and a Monday night against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. 

"Yeah, that's a tough one for the Milwaukee fans," Lamoreaux said. "Two night games, Thursday night against and Monday night against Philly, that's a tough drive."

Lamoreaux said the biggest factors in ticket demand are opponent, followed by time of year and time of kickoff. The highlights of Green Bay's non-divisional opponents are Philidelphia and the consistently competitive Baltimore Ravens. However, Baltimore's visit comes the weekend after Christmas.