PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A record 805,000 attended the NFL Draft in late April. Now that we are months removed, what is the lasting impact of the three-day event on Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh mayor Corey O’Connor said it opened the eyes of the ‘millions upon millions’ of people that watched as well as the thousands that showed up. O’Connor spoke at the opening of a new NFL Draft ’26 exhibit at the Steelers Hall of Honor at Acrisure Stadium before the Steelers kicked off the preseason Thursday night.
“It was really an iconic day for Pittsburgh,” O’Connor said. “It also puts us on the national and international map to say Pittsburgh can do these things.”
Mayor O’Connor said every week since the Draft he called 10 different companies, local, national or international, about relocating, starting or expanding in Pittsburgh.
“They didn’t know we had all of these AI, robotics, life-sciences right in our backyard,” O’Connor said. “Now we are competing on that worldwide stage because they came to Pittsburgh for the Draft.”
Even for those neighborhoods who didn’t directly benefit from the week of the Draft, he said they will all see the value of that investment. It’s because O’Connor said they can have these conversations because of how the city played out over that week. He believes if they can get those decision-makers to visit Western Pennsylvania, and they are more likely to given what they saw, they are going to win. That Pittsburgh has everything a business wants in a region and it’s about continuing to build that momentum.
“We got to tell our story,” O’Connor said.
Pittsburgh Mayor believes city was able to tell its story
Pittsburgh Mayor believes city was able to tell its story
