The 2017 NFL draft will be located in Philadelphia following two seasons in Chicago. Philadelphia is no stranger to hosting this event. In fact, it’s the city that held the first-ever draft in 1936, and it has hosted the draft a total of 16 times, with the last in 1961.
All-time NFL draft location cities: 2017’s event returns to Philly
Philadelphia welcomes thousands of NFL fans for its first draft in decades.
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Besides Philly, the draft has been hosted by six other cities, dating back to the 1930s. New York has hosted it the most, thanks to the 50-year streak it held from 1965 to 2014. Then comes Philly, followed by Chicago.
Check out the full list of cities, partly courtesy of Wikipedia.
- New York: 1937, 1939, 1944-1947, 1952, 1955, 1965-2014
- Philadelphia: 1936, 1944, 1949-1961, 2017
- Pittsburgh: 1948-1949*
- Chicago: 1938, 1942-1943, 1951, 1962-1964, 2015-2016
- Los Angeles: 1956*
- Milwaukee: 1940
- Washington, D.C.: 1941
(*: Year with more than one draft venue)
Chicago was the first to host the draft following NYC’s 50-year streak. One of the biggest tipping points for the move came after the 2014 draft was moved to the beginning of May, due to a scheduling conflict with Radio City Music Hall.
The NFL chose to move the draft out of New York City after a poor experience in 2014. Radio City Music Hall double-booked the draft and a Rockettes performance, and the league was forced to move the draft from the last weekend of April to the first weekend of May. New York had been home to the draft for 51 years when the league decided to move the festivities to Chicago.
Chicago opened opportunities to enhance the fan experience, including Draft Town, an interactive experience for fans in Grant Park. But like Chicago, the move to Philadelphia is not expected to become an annual tradition.
The NFL decided on Chicago in October 2014, after sending letters to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles about hosting it.
As far as the coming years go, it would appear as if we’ll likely have to wait and see on a year-by-year basis. For 2018, Dallas is being considered, as are several other big cities, according to NFL.com:
Other cities that have expressed interest in hosting the event include Chicago, Canton, Denver, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Falcons owner Arthur Blank told ESPN last month that he would like to see Atlanta considered as a draft host, as well.
The draft is a pretty big event for fans. In 2015, the last year it was held in New York City, the attendance reached 200,000, which included those who attended the draft itself, as well as the events around Radio City Music Hall. Chicago’s last year reached 225,000 over three days.
We’ll have to see what the numbers look like from Philadelphia this year.
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