The NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh is a big deal.
When news broke Wednesday that the Steelers had won their bid for Pittsburgh to host one of the NFL's marquee events in 2026, excitement pulsed throughout both the city and the fanbase. It's not hyperbole to say it could be the biggest event the city has ever hosted.
"I predict we'll have over a million people come to our city," said Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey during a press conference Thursday at Acrisure Stadium. "We are the city of champions."
Gainey was one of five to address the media Thursday, including Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, Allegheny County executive Sara Innamorato, VisitPITTSBURGH president and CEO Jerad Bachar and, of course, team president Art Rooney II.
Gainey, Shapiro, Innamorato and Bachar all made sure to acknowledge's Rooney's role in making Pittsburgh the host of the 2026 NFL Draft.
"Without Art Rooney and his family, we wouldn't even be here today," Gainey said. "I think we really need to give him a standing ovation for what he's done to put this city on the map."
Having the draft in Pittsburgh is quite the proverbial feather in the cap for Rooney, as more and more franchises are earnestly trying to have their respective cities host the league's biggest event outside of the Super Bowl. And through his words on Thursday, in which he reminisced about pro football's humble beginnings in the area with the Allegheny Athletics to the long history of legendary players from the area, it's easy to see how much it means to Rooney to have Pittsburgh win this honor.
"We are excited about hosting the draft for a lot of reasons," Rooney said. "As far as the Steelers are concerned, we're proud of our draft history. We've had a great history in the draft, and the 1974 draft, which we celebrated the 50-year anniversary a few weeks ago, produced five Hall of Famers. Probably will never happen again. Probably the greatest draft in NFL history.
"A lot of great themes to talk about as far as Pittsburgh hosting the draft. We couldn't be more excited. So now the hard work begins to get ready to host this many people and have 50 million or so people watch us on TV."
Of course, local football fans have obvious reason to be excited about the draft coming to Pittsburgh. But all five officials made sure to stress how great the impact will be on local economy from hosting such an event.
Shapiro reinforced the expectation that the draft to be the largest event in the city's history.
"We are going to see our restaurants packed, our bars overflowing," Shapiro said. "Every single hotel room is going to be booked."
Bachar said Allegheny County last year hosted more than 20 million visitors, who generated about $6.4 million in economic benefit for local businesses. The expectation is for the draft to provide an economic impact of up to $160 million for the region.
While Gainey's expectation for one million people to flock to Pittsburgh for the draft might be a tad overboard, it's not all that farfetched. Detroit just hosted 775,000 people for the draft this past April, well more than the previous record of 600,000 hosted by Nashville in 2019. Also, Pennsylvania is now the first state to host the draft twice as Philadelphia hosted the event in 2017, which drew nearly a quarter-million fans.
As Rooney mentioned, a lot of work will now begin in preparing the city for such a large event.
"The NFL is very satisfied with what we have to offer," Bachar said.
Shapiro also clarified Thursday that the Steelers have not asked for any public money to support the event. He said Pennsylvania is "prepared to step up to ensure that this event goes off great" should public dollars be requested. Rooney said he anticipates local businesses to chip in to cover expenses related to the draft.
While the exact date and logistics of the 2026 NFL Draft haven't been announced yet, draft festivities will incorporate elements of Acrisure Stadium and Point State Park, and additional draft events will also be hosted in Downtown, the Central Business District, the Strip District and perhaps Mount Washington over the course of draft weekend. One thing that was revealed by Rooney on Thursday is that the draft stage will be in the parking lots between Acrisure Stadium and Stage AE.
"It's going to be fun. It's going to be great," Rooney said. "I'm really excited to be joined today by some of the people that have helped make it happen and are going to help make sure it happens the right way."
