Students study Packers' economic impact
When the Green Bay Visitors and Convention Bureau wanted to know just how much of an economic impact the Packers training camp was having in the region, UW-Green Bay Prof. Don McCartney stepped in to help out.
McCartney and a handful of UW-Green Bay business and marketing students conducted surveys at the training camps this summer at the Don Hutson Center, which sits in the shadows of historic Lambeau Field. The students are able to get real-world experience by surveying Packers fans and monitoring the number states represented on license plates in the nearby parking lot. “It will help them by building their resume by giving them experience that employers are looking for,” McCartney said. “It will also help them to get the hard jobs in market research that are very unattainable unless you have your master’s degree. This type of experience is invaluable.The Visitors and Convention Bureau wanted to determine how the training camps stimulate the local economy by finding out where and how people were spending their money before and after they watch the Packers practice.
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UW-Green Bay students help the Greater Green Bay Visitors and Convention Bureau study the economic impact of the Green Bay Packers training camps by conducting fan surveys.
Student with clipboard
Hello, I’m Rachel with the Visitors Bureau of Green Bay. Would you mind doing a brief survey for me?
Prof. Don McCartney
The students are out here doing surveys on behalf of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The idea is to determine how tourists are spending their time and money in the greater Green Bay area.Some (students) are doing a variety of things. Some are in the parking lot actually doing license plate recording. Some are going into the bleachers and going to the fans and (who are) actually doing the surveys themselves.
Brandon Selissen
It’s important, first of all, because this event, they don’t really charge for parking or anything like that; just for souvenirs and whatnot. So it’s important to know how much the city should be putting into it, and how many people it draws. It also helps all the local businesses with all the visitors coming in.
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What do UW-Green Bay students get out of working experiences like this?
Prof. Don McCartney
It will help them by building their resume by giving them experience that employers are looking for. It will also help them to get the hard jobs in market research that are very unattainable unless you have your master’s degree. This type of experience is invaluable.
Brandon Selissen
I think it’s very important. It gives you face-to-face communication with people, which is very important in everyday life. And you’ll have to conduct surveys in a lot of types of jobs and use the information you gather from them. So it’s pretty important for students to use their skills and hone them.I see a lot of opportunities. This is one of the first ones that I took advantage of and it was very easy. I just talked to Prof. McCartney and pretty much, two e-mails, and we were ready to go.
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In addition to studying the impact Packers training camps have on tourism, UW-Green Bay students have also studied the impact of events held at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, the Resch Center and Shopko Hall in Green Bay.
