UPDATE, 11:20 a.m.: The NFL has awarded the 2026 NFL Draft to the city of Pittsburgh, according to multiple reports.
CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones was the first one to report it.
UPDATE, 9:05 a.m.: According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, clarity on the location of the 2026 NFL Draft should come today.
In a tweet from Nashville at the league’s meetings, Fowler said that a source described the Steelers as “cautiously optimistic” that Pittsburgh will be awarded a future NFL draft at this week’s owners meetings in Nashville.
Source described #Steelers as ‘cautiously optimistic’ that Pittsburgh will be awarded a future NFL draft at this week’s owners meetings in Nashville. The 2026 slot is open. Clarity should come today.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 22, 2024
Our original story from the reporting for CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones is below.
The city of Pittsburgh appears to be moving closer to hosting the 2026 NFL Draft.
According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones, there is a “strong sense” from the league meetings in Nashville this week that the Steelers and the city will be awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, with an official announcement expected soon.
At the NFL league meetings here in Nashville, there’s a strong sense that Pittsburgh will be awarded the 2026 NFL draft, sources tell @NFLonCBS. Announcement later today is possible.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) May 22, 2024
Pittsburgh officially submitted its bid to host either the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft in February, and in late April WTAE’s Andrew Stockey reported that the Steelers were on the short list to host the draft in 2026 or 2027.
Team owner Art Rooney II stated during a Q&A session last week at Acrisure Stadium that things were looking good regarding the bid to host the draft and that the team was expecting to hear at some point this week.
Now, that announcement appears to be on the horizon, with some potentially great news for not only the city, but the franchise as well.
After Pittsburgh officially announced its bid to host the draft, it released a hype video to make clear its interest in hosting the draft. The official bid came after rumors of the city being a future destination started last fall as NFL personnel reportedly were scouting locations in Pittsburgh.
The bid is in!
We have officially submitted Pittsburgh’s NFL Draft Bid to host the event in 2026 or 2027.@vstpgh | @Innamo | @gainey_ed pic.twitter.com/cWY8VppX0j
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 16, 2024
Shortly after the 2023 season concluded, Rooney started to make his public push for the city to host the draft, confirming the team’s interest.
During the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, which saw more than 775,000 fans attend the three-day event, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hinted that Pittsburgh could be coming soon as a host city for the NFL Draft in either 2026 or 2027.
“They’re in the mix,” Goodell said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “I’ll tell you that. So that may be coming soon.”
Soon appears to have arrived. We’ll see if an official announcement is made today from Nashville.
If Pittsburgh is awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, it would have quite the economic impact on the city. According to former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who spoke with WPXI’s Jenna Harner late last week, the draft coming to Pittsburgh would be an economic boon.
“We’re estimating there’ll be over 300 to 350,000 visitors that would come to Pittsburgh, putting an economic impact anywhere from 100 million to $150 million,” Fitzgerald told Harner, according to WPXI.com. “And that’s I think being actually somewhat conservative.”
Fitzgerald might be a bit conservative there, especially with the impact the draft had on Detroit, bringing in an estimated $165 million over the three-day draft.
“I think it’d probably be the biggest visitor event in the history of the city,” Rooney said in February to WTAE’s Andrew Stockey. “And so it’s very exciting. We think where Pittsburgh is located, not only will we have thousands of Steeler fans, but would have thousands of fans from all of the NFL cities that are, you know, let’s say within a 500-mile radius of Pittsburgh. So, I think it would be, number one, a huge visitor event for the city.”
