Pittsburgh is Officially on the Clock for 2026 NFL Draft
Pittsburgh is officially on the clock for the 2026 NFL Draft. A formal handoff commemorating the “passing of the baton” was held after the final pick of the 2025 NFL Draft was made in Green Bay on Saturday.
Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy, vice president of marketing and fan engagement for the Packers Gabrielle Dow, president and CEO of Discover Green Bay Brad Toll and former Packers safety LeRoy Butler handed the baton off.
Director of business development and strategy for the Pittsburgh Steelers Dan Rooney, Steelers executive vice president for strategy David Morehouse. president CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH Jerad Bachar and former Steelers wide receiver were all in Green Bay to accept the formal handoff.
The draft will be held in Pittsburgh on April 23-25 in 2026. VisitPittsburgh sent a team of about 20 people to Green Bay to see what works and doesn’t for their draft.
“This is a game-changer for our region and a defining moment for Pittsburgh,” Michele Meloy Burchfield of VisitPittsburgh told our partners at WPXI.
VisitPITTSBURGH expects 500,000 to 700,000 visitors to the shores of Downtown Pittsburgh next April. It’s projected to be the biggest event in Pittsburgh’s history.
The league announced that 600,000 attended the draft in Green Bay, tying Nashville in 2019 for the second-largest attendance since the NFL moved the draft out of New York and started sending it to various locations in 2015. Detroit set the record last season with more than 775,000 fans.
The draft will provide an astronomical economic boost to the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Detroit saw an estimated $160 million economic windfall from doing so.
The NFL announced last May that the Steelers’ bid in conjunction with Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh was approved for the 2026 NFL Draft. The City of Pittsburgh has not hosted the NFL Draft since December of 1947.
“The main portion of the event is expected to incorporate elements of Pittsburgh’s North Shore and Point State Park, as well as Acrisure Stadium, with a variety of venues to be utilized and activated within close proximity,” VisitPittsburgh said in a released statement.
In May of 2024, Pittsburgh leaders announced a plan to revitalize Downtown ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. Governor Josh Shapiro is involved with the new plan for Downtown.
“We’ll be prepared to step up to make sure that this event goes off well,” Shapiro said. “Not well, pardon me. That this event goes off great. And that everyone who visits Pittsburgh has a wonderful experience, that safety, security, hospitality, all of those issues will be addressed.”
Transformations at Point State Park and Market Square are a part of the revitalization plan ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.
The plan, which also includes upgrades of a block of Eighth Street in the Cultural District, was released by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh.
The draft was held in New York City from 1965-2014, but with the interest in the draft exploding, the league decided to move the event outdoors and explore other NFL cities. The draft has been held in Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Kansas City since 2015.