TITLETOWN (NBC 26) — In this edition of Drive to the Draft, we look at some of the biggest question marks facing locals and visitors: transportation and parking.
- Discover Green Bay's website offers a parking map that can connect visitors with people selling parking spaces near the Draft campus
- Ride share pickup and drop off zones are being established on St. Agnes Drive (between Fisk Street and Ridge Road) and Reggie White Way (Tony Canadeo Run and Lombardi Avenue) — these are currently listed as areas of "increased rideshare operations" by Green Bay officials
- The NFL OnePass app provides additional transportation information about the Draft
- Road closures for the Draft begin next Friday
- Video shows how some are taking advantage of car rental services and proximity to Lambeau Field to make money on transportation during the Draft
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details and quotes added for web)
We are five weeks from the NFL Draft in Green Bay, and as we Drive to the Draft, your Titletown neighborhood reporter Karl Winter is looking at transportation — a big question mark for both locals and out-of-towners.
Watch Titletown neighborhood reporter Karl Winter's full story here:
Yes, we are driving to the draft, and so are thousands of others next month.
This area of St. Agnes Drive is one of the areas that will be designated for Uber and Lyft dropoff and pickup during the Draft. Ride share is one way to make some money on transportation during the Draft — and we're learning about a few others.
"Turo is essentially Airbnb with cars," Rik Richards said.
Turo is a contactless car rental website and app.
There are only a few dozen cars listed on the service in the Green Bay area — and Richards owns 12 of them.
"We have everything from a Porsche 718 Boxster that are a couple hundreds bucks a day, to a Kia Rio that's 40 bucks a day," he said.
Richards says almost anyone can rent out a car on Turo — the company takes a percentage of the profit, but then covers most damages by renters.
"Some of the people don't take care of vehicles, so there are some damage claims or insurance claims or maintenance," Richards said, "but all in all, I'd say the ROI [return on investment] is pretty good."
Richards also says part of the draw of the contactless pickup is that rental companies aren't open 24/7, but with Turo, cars can be picked up at any time.
"There's not a big plethora of cars all the time," he said. "Oftentimes, what we see is, all the rental companies, the bigger rental companies, box companies, if you will — they're out of vehicles. And so when they're out, we get a lot of calls."
Parking is another way to make some cash during the Draft if you live near Lambeau.
Even schools are looking to make a buck — Ashwaubenon superintendent Kurt Weyers says Ashwaubenon schools are closted during the Draft, on April 24 and 25, in the name of student safety, but the district is opening school lots for parking — more lots than it would for a Packers game."
"It's going to be much larger, much more people in attendance," Weyers said, "and so, as a result of that, we start to try to expand our horizon and give an opportunity to sell more spots."
With 700 spots at three different schools, at $50 a day for three days, Ashwaubenon schools could make more than $100,000.
Weyers says it's: "An opportunity for our different athletic teams, our clubs are here at the high school, our different PTO organizations, any of them to make extra revenue that we can spend on kids."
Ashwaubenon schools are listing their spots on Discover Green Bay's website — where locals can advertise to incoming fans.
"That's why it's important," said Nick Meisner, the vice president of marketing and communications at Discover Green Bay. "It gives the fans that are traveling to Green Bay for the event a place to plan to go for their parking instead of riving around trying to find a place."
Meisner says the website does not ask how much sellers are charging.
"We just want to use it as a fan communication mechanism to show where there's pockets of parking available," he said.
Meisner also says the area of Saint Agnes drive is one of the places designated for "Increased ride share opertations. There is another on the other side of the Draft campus, on Reggie White Way, near Badger State Brewing.
Meisner expects the NFL will work with Uber and Lyft to establish those as the only two places that ride shares can pick up and drop off passengers for the Draft.
