City Of Pittsburgh Awarded The 2026 NFL Draft, Should Draw Massive Crowd

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The NFL has seen unprecedented success with outdoor drafts after exclusively holding the event in New York’s Radio City Music Hall for many years before moving the draft to other cities beginning in 2015. That has proven to be a great decision, and the 2026 NFL Draft is heading to Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh last hosted the NFL Draft in 1948. It's safe to say that the 2026 version of the event will look quite different in two years than it did over 75 years ago. 
Pittsburgh has become the second Pennsylvania city to host the NFL Draft since 2015, with Philadelphia earning the bid in 2017. 

This year's draft in Detroit was a massive success, pulling in record numbers of fans for the three-day event. The NFL previously said that it wanted drafts to have a "music-festival-like atmosphere," according to Adam Schefter. Mission accomplished. 

Moving the draft to different NFL cities is also a way for the league to give love to those places that won't be able to host a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh certainly isn't getting a Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in Western Pennsylvania in the middle of February. But, the NFL Draft is a decent consolation prize. 

Downtown Pittsburgh is seen from the upper seats of Heinz Field after the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series played between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017. The NFL awarded the city the 2026 NFL Draft.

Downtown Pittsburgh is seen from the upper seats of Heinz Field after the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series played between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017. The NFL awarded the city the 2026 NFL Draft. 

(Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

The biggest problem is that the players don't seem overly interested in these drafts. Attending the NFL Draft, particularly under the lights of New York City, was a dream for most young football players. As it would be for a location like Las Vegas, Miami or Los Angeles. 

But traveling to Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit, or Pittsburgh isn't much of a destination for a 20-something-year-old just to hear his name called. To wit, only 17 prospects attended the 2023 NFL Draft and just 13 prospects attended the NFL Draft in Detroit. That tied for the lowest number ever (excluding the COVID virtual draft in 2020). 

But the league doesn't care as much about the 10-20 prospects who might attend the NFL Draft as they care about the hundreds of thousands of fans they can pack in and around a venue.

They buy the tickets, they buy the merchandise and they drive the advertising dollars. I don't fault the league for recognizing that. In fact, moving the NFL Draft to midwestern cities, in particular, is great for football fans in the middle of the country. 

Serving people in the middle of the United States is something that other corporations might want to spend more time thinking about. 

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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.