7/27/11 – What would 25-million dollars mean to the place where you live? That’s how much Green Bay could have lost next month alone, had the pro football owners’ lockout dragged on. Yes, the fans would have survived – and the players are so rich-and-famous, they could have easily found another way to make a living. But the same cannot be said for the hotels, restaurants, bars, and other tourist places that count on the Packers for their survival. The Greater Green Bay Visitors-and-Convention Bureau estimates that the August training camp, the Family Night scrimmage, and the two exhibition games bring in 20-to-25 million dollars for the area’s economy. About 40-to-60-thousand attend the Family Night scrimmage, which is set for August sixth. Around 34-thousand fans attend other training camp activities – and four-of-every-five of those people are from outside Brown County. The city-and-county stadium district estimates that the Packers bring in 281-million-dollars for the economy each year. Jerry Watson says a third of his annual revenues at the Stadium View Bar-and-Grille are connected to the Packers. Fans will start showing up en-masse on Thursday for the team’s annual stockholders’ meeting. The first public practice at training camp is on Saturday night.
