The NFL Draft will descend on Chicago the next several days, offering fans football, hope and of course the chance to buy officially licensed merchandise.
But as successful as they think a two-year run in the Windy City might be, the league’s not looking to put down roots there.
According to Emily Kaplan of TheMMQB.com, more than half the league’s cities want to host the draft in the future, along with Canton, Ohio.
They want to do so for two reasons — people are watching and places are lining up for the opportunity to host. Last year’s first round drew 8.8 million viewers, which was 1.2 more than the NBA All-Star Game. And with so many places wanting in on the action, the league ended what seemed to be a perfectly fine 51-year arrangement in New York City.
While the entire list of cities who would like to bid for the event isn’t detailed, the number of interested parties gives the league options. Much like the Super Bowl bids, it has become a carrot to be dangled, to see what they can squeeze out of cities.
“Given what we’ve learned in the move from New York City to Chicago, clearly a number of cities raised their hands to say they’re interested,”Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events said. “We’d love to share the vision for what the new normal is, . . . it’s possible the draft could be in a different city every year — or even multiple cities in the same year.”
Sharing, of course, comes with a cost, as Chicago offered the NFL rent-free use of Grant Park and waived a security deposit, in exchange for what one study pegged as a $44 million economic impact.
As long as there’s money to be made, there’s a good chance the NFL will chase it, and putting it in as many places as possible.