Pittsburgh has officially submitted its bid to host a future NFL draft. Announced by the Steelers’ Twitter account Friday, the team hopes to serve as host city for either the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft.
You’ve probably never been so excited to watch a video of someone sending an email.
Though official confirmation, today’s news is hardly a surprise. Since last year, there have been rumors and reports that Pittsburgh was looking to host an upcoming NFL draft. During his recent media tour, team president Art Rooney II confirmed a desire to host the draft, noting the economic boon it would create for the city with hundreds of thousands of fans attending the event.
“We’re in the process of finalizing the bid that we’re gonna be submitting to the league soon, and we are expecting and hoping to have a decision come from the league later this spring,” Rooney told WTAE’s Andrew Stockey earlier this month. “And I would say we’re optimistic about Pittsburgh hosting the draft here in 26 or 27.”
Pittsburgh has never hosted the draft since the league began a rotating schedule in 2015, moving it away from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Rooney said he hopes to know the draft’s future locations by the league’s meetings in May.
The 2024 NFL Draft will be hosted by Detroit while the 2025 edition will be set in Green Bay. Odds are high Pittsburgh will host one of the drafts after that, though it’s unclear if it’ll occur in 2026 or 2027. The sooner, the better. In March 2022, the league announced Detroit would host the 2024 draft. For Green Bay, its 2025 announcement didn’t come until May of last year.
It’s not known where Pittsburgh would hold the draft. Likely laid out in the bid, it probably wouldn’t take place at Acrisure Stadium. Instead, it probably would be held in another venue, perhaps Stage AE, which is also on the North Shore in Pittsburgh.
