At one point, the NFL draft was a fixed date at Radio City Music Hall in New York, but since it began to change venues the success has been greater.
When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stands before the podium on the monumental stage of Union Station — the train terminal in Kansas City, Missouri — to announce the top pick on Thursday, it will be the ninth time since the event left New York, becoming a bonanza for the league, the teams and the host city.
“It’s the second biggest event we’ve done in the middle of the offseason. There is no rest,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of business. “He is the example of the fervor of the fans, they are the ones who have made the draft something bigger and special.”
The NFL draft was held in New York from 1965 to 2014. Radio City Music Hall, which hosted the event nine times, forced the draft to be moved to May 2014 because of the Rockettes’ spring extravaganza. The league did not want the date change to be repeated and moved the show to Chicago for two years with spectacular results.
Philadelphia hosted the draft in 2017 at its Museum of Art. AT&T Dallas became the first stadium to host the event in 2018. Nashville drew a crowd of 600,000 over three days in 2019.
After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the draft, Cleveland shined in 2021 and the party was set up in Las Vegas in 2022. Next year it will be Detroit’s turn and the 2025 venue will be decided during the NBA meeting. may league.
“We’re proud of the fact that we’ve reached more fans in different parts of the country and many markets that may not host a Super Bowl,” O’Reilly said.
He added that the drafts do not follow the same formula. “You start from scratch every year and you have a new canvas with each new city.”
The Chiefs celebrated another Super Bowl victory with a parade two months ago and now thousands of people from all over the United States will join for the three-day extravaganza.
The first draft was held in a Philadelphia hotel over two days in February 1936, after Eagles owner Bert Bell convinced all eight owners that teams should pick college prospects in reverse order. to their season results and not sign them as free agents.
In its first edition, 81 players were chosen. Compared to the 1976 record of 487 in 17 rounds. Four years later ESPN began broadcasting the draft.
Now there are only seven rounds and it is distributed in three days.
