Current head-counting has the Minnesota population at 5.7 million and Wisconsin at 5.9 million. The major difference is that 3.65 million of Minnesotans are concentrated in the Twin Cities metro area. The Milwaukee metro is 1.58 million and Madison, located 80 miles west, is 670,000.
Wisconsin's larger population is fed by more mid-sized cities than in Minnesota, including Green Bay, home to an NFL franchise with a metro area population of 325,000.
Tom Oates, the now-retired, long-time columnist for Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, said: "I was asked frequently in press boxes, 'How can Green Bay support a football team?