NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is pleased with the results after moving the draft out of New York and into Chicago.
“We loved it,” Goodell said on Mike & Mike. “This was a great decision for us. It was a chance for us to reinvent the draft and the fans turned out, the city did a great job for us, and we’re excited for the next couple days. It’s really been terrific for us.”
There’s been some talk that the top two picks, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, stayed home because they don’t view Chicago as a marquee location like New York City, but Goodell said he doesn’t think that’s the case.
“They had their own personal reasons for it -- they both had personal reasons to be with their family,” Goodell said. “The guys who were here had a blast. We’ve spent a lot of time here with them over the last couple days and they’ve loved the city. They’ve loved the experience.”
Goodell stressed that the league was pleased not just with the draft itself at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, but also with the large outdoor Draft Town in Grant Park, which the league said drew 50,000 fans yesterday. Goodell said the location of the 2016 NFL draft won’t be determined for at least a few weeks, but he said Chicago has shown it’s a good host.
“It clearly has already met a new level of success for us and it’s because of the city of Chicago,” Goodell said. “We had a lot of cities that were interested but we love what we were able to accomplish here.”
But for all of Goodell’s praise for Chicago, there’s a good chance the draft will go elsewhere next year. If a team moves to Los Angeles, it would make a lot of sense for the league to put the draft in L.A. as the first major event for the league’s return to the city. There’s also been talk of a venue with a lot of football history, like Green Bay or Canton, Ohio, being a draft host. So even though Chicago has proven itself to be a good host, it may not remain the host.