NFL Draft Prospects Increasingly Decide Against Attending Event

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Since the NFL decided to stop holding the draft in New York City, fewer and fewer prospects are choosing to attend the event in person. The league made the choice to start placing the NFL Draft in locations that are unlikely to ever host a Super Bowl due to their climates – cities like Cleveland and Kansas City. 

For the 2025 NFL Draft, the league picked Green Bay's Lambeau Field as the hosting venue. Lambeau is among the most iconic stadiums in the NFL, but it's not a great draw for the prospects in their early 20s looking to potentially attend. 

While the number of prospects confirmed to attend this year (16) is up slightly from last year's draft in Detroit (13), it's still not near the heyday of the NFL Draft. Among the players attending are quarterbacks Cam Ward and Jalen Milroe, Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, and expected Top-5 picks Abdul Carter and Will Campbell. Sheduer Sanders is not expected to attend. 

Just 16 prospects are confirmed to attend the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, including presumptive #1 pick Cam Ward.

Just 16 prospects are confirmed to attend the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, including presumptive #1 pick Cam Ward. 

(Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)

Traveling to Kansas City, Cleveland or Detroit isn't much of a destination for a 20-something-year-old just to hear his name called. But the league has made its position clear: it views the draft as an event to draw hundreds of thousands of fans and if that means sacrificing some prospects attending, then so be it. They want a "musical festival" atmosphere, and the best places to achieve that goal include cities that don't get to often host major events. 

And appeasing its fans is the only thing the NFL cares about at this point. Really, that's all they should care about. They abandoned the fans with overt political messaging over the past few years, and it was a disaster. No surprise there.

They've slowly been trying to build it back up, and heading to cities in middle America is a nod to football fans. Coastal elites aren't the ones packing NFL stadiums on Sundays. And they aren't the ones flocking to the NFL Draft. They do show up for the Super Bowl, which has become more of a corporate event for elites than a football game for average fans.

But that's who makes up the majority of the NFL audience: hard-working middle Americans. And you better believe that's who's going to fill up Lambeau Field this week. 

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.