Organizers want to showcase Pittsburgh’s tech industry and arts scene when the 2026 NFL Draft comes to town next April.
“There’s definitely opportunities in the autonomous tech area, robotics, and other ways that we want to help bake that into to tell the Pittsburgh story,” said Jerad Bachar, CEO of VisitPittsburgh, which is leading draft planning efforts. “Certainly, where tech meets art, it exemplifies the current, modern Pittsburgh, if you will. But as we move forward, we think that there is a big opportunity for us to really enhance and showcase our arts community.”
The draft provides an opportunity for cities to showcase their unique culture – and Pittsburgh is leaning on cities with a playbook for the NFL draft: Detroit and Green Bay.
Green Bay is hosting the draft April 24-26. Part festival, part sporting event, it’s a widely anticipated occasion where teams select new players to build their rosters.
Pittsburgh officials have spoken with officials in Detroit, last year’s draft host, to get a sense of selecting locations and planning the 2026 draft, slated for April 23-25 and expected to attract over 500,000 people.
“There’s been a lot of great momentum in our city,” said Marty Dobek, executive director of the Detroit Sports Commission. “We really felt hosting a draft in downtown Detroit, in the central business district, basically dropping this three-day event that brings together sports, music, and culture into our vibrant downtown, was a great platform for us to just showcase to the world that this is Detroit and shift perceptions.”
Almost 800,000 people attended the three-day event, a new record that brought in about $213 million in estimated economic impact.
Leaders said they wanted to leverage the publicity — more than 50 million people watched the draft online — to rebrand the Motor City, which between 2022 and 2023 saw population growth for the first time in more than 60 years.
“Our message to the NFL was, there’s no other city in the United States that could be impacted better than Detroit,” Dobek said. “It was about our culture and using that platform over those three days, the millions that watch the draft and the visitors that come into the city for the draft to experience firsthand what our community is all about and what the culture here in Detroit is.”
Detroit officials used the event’s publicity to improve youth literacy and encourage youth sports through the $1 million Living Legacy Initiative launched ahead of the draft using Detroit Sports Commission and Visit Detroit funds.
Planning for the NFL’s largest offseason event means an array of details to figure out: traffic, parking, security, concessions, venues, marketing, and more.
Green Bay has 30-some committees, said Nick Meisner, vice president of digital marketing and communications at Discover Green Bay. The group heads the host committee, alongside the Green Bay Packers.
And funding adds another layer to preparation.
While the NFL covers the “vast majority of expenses,” said Emily Hatfield, senior director of communications for VisitPittsburgh, cities must fundraise millions, something the NFL looks for in draft bids.
Detroit used $10 million, a split of funds from Visit Detroit, the Detroit Sports Commission, businesses, and the state of Michigan. Green Bay raised $8.5 million from local businesses and donors, including $2 million from Wisconsin’s state government, Meisner said.
Pittsburgh leaders are contributing a little more, with $1 million from the city coffers, $3 million from the county’s hotel tax, $5 million from businesses, and another $2 million from VisitPittsburgh, all totaling $11 million.
Funds go to a variety of uses, including marketing, public safety, and temporary infrastructure upgrades.
But keeping the public informed of planning can be its own struggle. Green Bay organizers have dealt with misinformation about road closures and disruptions caused by the draft.
“I can’t tell you the number of times that we’ve heard ‘We’re shutting down this road for eight weeks,’” Meisner said. “Or we hear ‘They’re going to take down this building,’ or ‘We heard that they’re going to do this or that or the other thing,’ and it just becomes nonsense.”
Green Bay Alderman Chris Wery has pushed for more community meetings and transparency, including requesting a committee be formed that directly reports to City Council.
“I know they know they’re ready, but the public doesn’t know that,” Wery said. “I’m trying to link the two.”
Green Bay is expecting 250,000 to 300,000 people. Split over three days, it rivals average game day attendance, Meisner said. Pittsburgh is anticipating 500,000 to 700,000 fans, which would make it the largest event held in the city, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Green Bay expects to bring in around $90 million in statewide economic impact, Meisner said. For the 2026 draft, that number stands between $120 million to $213 million, in no small part thanks to a large number of football teams and NCAA Division I football programs within driving distance.
And Green Bay residents want to get in on that impact. Wery, who represents the district north of and containing Lambeau Field, said he’s fielded questions from constituents in the residential areas near the stadium.
It’s typical for cars to be parked on nearby lawns on game days, and residents have asked Wery if they can sell food or charge draft visitors for parking on their lawns.
In Pittsburgh next year, businesses may also see some money as the NFL launches its procurement program looking for local businesses, including those owned by underrepresented groups, to help run the drafts. Green Bay’s applications are closed. Pittsburgh applications opened on April 1 and close on May 7.
Abigail Hakas is a reporter for Next Generation Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Reach her at abigail.hakas@pointpark.edu.
NGN is a regional news service that focuses on government and enterprise reporting in southwestern Pennsylvania. Find out more information on foundation and corporate funders here.
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