Amid the success of Super Bowl LIX, New Orleans and Company says it's interested in bringing the NFL Draft to the Crescent City. According to leaders from the cities that will host the next two drafts, that event will attract hundreds of thousands back to New Orleans.
"Detroit, of course, reported over 700,000 people who came in for the weeked in Detroit," Visit Pittsburgh Executive Director Jerad Bacher said.
Bacher was in New Orleans for the Super Bowl to promote the 2026 NFL Draft, which Pittsburgh is hosting. Bacher said his city's proximity to several other NFL markets and college football hotbeds will help push attendance at the 2026 Draft above that 700,000 figure.
"We imagine we're going to beat those Detroit numbers," Bacher said.
Green Bay is hosting this year's draft. Packers Director of Public Affairs Aaron Popkey says he planning not only on hundreds of thousands of fans attending, but also thousands of media members.
"They're will be media from all over the country (and) international media," Popkey said.
Popkey adds that a fan fest similar to the one held last week ahead of the Super Bowl will help drive fans to his city for this year's draft.
"The Super Bowl Experience--the NFL Experience here at the Super Bowl--there is a very similar version of that that they set up at the draft," Popkey said.
Popkey and Bacher agreed that fans of their hometown teams will help drive attendance at their respective draft events. Bacher said part of having success with the draft is the host team's fans to come from near and far.
"Where Pittsburgh sits, we're about a half-day's drive from 11 other NFL markets and 35 NCAA Division I markets," Bacher said. "When you talk about the Steelers Nation, we have Steelers fans from all around the world. Hopefully we have one or two in New Orleans. We're hoping we can bring those Steelers fans back home."
Like Pittsburgh, New Orleans is surrounded by football hotbeds. Five other NFL cities -- Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, and Jacksonville -- and around three dozen NCAA Division I markets are within an eight-hour drive or less from the Crescent City.
