A personal ‘living room’ and brat sliders. Here’s what it’s like behind the scenes at the NFL Draft. - The Boston Globe (2025)

The NFL’s top priority this year: Space. The green room was cramped last year in Detroit, but this year it’s in a giant convention center hall in the Resch Expo Center.

Each prospect gets his own “living room” with four couches and three armchairs to comfortably seat a player and his entourage.

While waiting to hear his name, the player can order food from a menu that includes bacon butter burger sliders, brat cheesesteak sliders, chorizo and beer cheese mac, crab cakes, boneless wings, fried cheese curds, a Wisconsin charcuterie cup, or for those watching their weight, grilled chicken or a cherry salad. The dessert menu includes gelato (mango sorbet or espresso brownie), fruit, and three different kinds of chocolate bonbons.

Each living room is also outfitted with an old-school corded phone, though it is likely just for effect.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has his own green room backstage. Yes, it is well stocked with his biggest vice, M&M’s — a jar each of regular and peanut, and two large backup bags of each.

The real draft takes place on the second floor of the Resch Center, where 32 team personnel reps are watching the draft. The draft pick is sent in from team headquarters to the personnel rep, who then calls it down to the NFL control room backstage.

The NFL has pre-printed cards with approximately 250 player names, with only the team and the pick left empty. This card is then handed to Goodell as he confirms the pronunciation of the player’s name and heads out to the stage.

The control room then radios the pick to the representatives at Nike sitting backstage. They have all 32 jerseys with the No. 1 on the back, and stitch on the player’s name before he reaches the stage.

Once the player’s name is called, he will be escorted down two long corridors leading to the stage. Hanging on the walls are the logos of all 32 teams carved out of wood by a local Wisconsin artisan, one of several local touches in this year’s draft.

Right before walking outside, the player reaches a podium and a mirror, where waiting for him is his new team hat from New Era.

The player doesn’t realize that the mirror is two-way, and that the NFL is televising him trying on his new hat for the first time.

The player walks out into the bright lights. Immediately in front of him are Goodell and the podium. Sitting beneath him in front of the stage are a group of superfans from all 32 NFL teams, dressed in Viking horns and light-up Cowboy hats and giant foam cheeseheads. On the side of the stage area, the prospect will see green walls similar to those used for the Lambeau Leap inside the stadium.

About 100 yards away is a mass of fans watching the draft and tailgating in the parking lots of Lambeau Field. The NFL said the attendance was 205,000 on Thursday night. That’s less than the 250,000 that showed up last year to Detroit, but Green Bay is much more difficult to get to.

Once the player hugs Goodell, completes his TV interview and finishes his moment in the spotlight, he is whisked away again to the Resch Center to go through the “car wash” – interviews with ESPN, NFL Network, SiriusXM, local reporters in Green Bay, and a conference call with media in their new home market.

After about 90 minutes of interviews, the players are free to go celebrate with family and friends.

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Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.