NFL Draft Pittsburgh Steelers News
Pittsburgh among Two Cities in Running for 2026, 2027 NFL Draft
Pittsburgh and Denver are the two final cities in the running to host the 2026 and 2027 NFL Draft. An announcement is expected this week.
The host cities for the 2026 and 2027 NFL Drafts are set to be announced this week during the NFL spring meetings in Nashville, and Pittsburgh remains on the short list to land a hosting bid.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have submitted a bid to host either the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft in conjunction with Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh, and their bid is one of two that seems headed toward acceptance.
According to a report by Joe Person of The Athletic, the Steelers’ bid, along with one submitted by the Denver Broncos, is still in consideration. Charlotte had also expressed interest in hosting an upcoming NFL Draft, but did not submit a formal bid. More than 20 cities have reportedly shown general interest in hosting a future draft, but Pittsburgh appears to be on the short list of cities that could be awarded one this week.
“We continue to be optimistic about it,” Steelers president Art Rooney said at the previous NFL owners meetings in Orlando.
The Pittsburgh plan would involve a draft stage on the North Shore alongside Acrisure Stadium, with other locations such as Downtown and Point State Park hosting other events.
“The visibility of downtown has to be very quite apparent,” VisitPittsburgh CEO Jerad Bacher said to our partners at WPXI last week. “So the front of the stage where the viewers would be looking into at the front of the stage would be facing downtown. You could see the stage being located just on this side of Acrisure Stadium facing the downtown area.”
Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL Draft, and saw an estimated $160 million economic windfall from doing so, while setting an all-time attendance record, with 775,000 people visiting the Motor City for the three-day event in April.
Green Bay is set to host in the 2025 NFL Draft next spring. It has also recently been held in Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Kansas City, The draft was held in New York City from 1965-2014, most frequently at the Theater at Madison Square Garden and the Radio City Music Hall. Pittsburgh has held the draft twice in the past, in 1948 and 1949.
Read This Next
