4 Million Reasons

Today's online issue of the local paper featured four different stories about the Green Bay Packers among the top seven headlines. The nightly news has extended playoff coverage every night, and even the offensive linemen are having their own weekly show on the tube here in Titletown. To many people,especially those without game tickets, all of this may seem excessive. Admittedly, with little snow on the ground there's not much else to do outside, and the Packers have always been a big draw in this small city. But why should we be subjected to this constant onslaught of media coverage, some of it entirely useless: like the pictorial last weekend about a man's house and it Packers' theme, complete with a urinal in the bathroom. Please! How about some common sense here? Well, there are at least four million reasons to throw common sense out the window.
The economic impact of this ONE playoff game is estimated to be between four and five million dollars! This according to estimates based on an impact study done by Price WaterhouseCoopers and CFL International...and this does not count ticket sales or sales inside the stadium on game day.
One apparel store near the stadium figures that 70% of its income is taken in on the 10 game days and Family Night during the season. A nearby bar raises the number so employees on game day from 25 to between 75 and 90. Now THAT's economic impact for you!
Not surprisingly (this IS Wisconsin after all) sales at liquor stores triple on weekends of Packers' home games. Add that to regular sales, and you can see why Wisconsin ranks right up there when states are ranked by alcohol consumption!
The Packers are so much a part of the community fabric that #4 was even nominated as the person of the year for elevating the spirit of the community to such high levels, and Bosse's Magazine and Tobacco Shop sold more than 2,000 copies of the Sports Illustrated issue featuring Brett Favre as the Man of the Year. (For the record, Green Bay's Most Significant Person this year was a minister who defied City Hall to open his church to the homeless at night)
Me? I'll watch the game on TV and, maybe, have a beer as well. Go, Pack, Go.