It’s become an annual box to check when covering the Scouting Combine.
How much longer will the Scouting Combine be held in Indianapolis?
A move to a larger market has seemed inevitable for several years. Although it hasn’t happened, Indy had to submit a bid for the first time, in order to retain the event for 2023 and 2024. After 2024, the Combine will be a free agent, again.
Via WISH-TV, the powers-that-be in Indy are trying to generate more fan involvement in the hopes of fulfilling the league’s goal of making the event bigger.
“As we look to our current bid that was one of our main pieces,” Visit Indy senior communications manager Nate Swick told WISH-TV. “We said, ‘All right, NFL, how do you want to grow this and how can we help you grow this event?’ And so that’s why you’ll see a lot more fan interactions the last couple of years.
The biggest selling point for Indy is convenience and efficiency for all Combine activities. If/when coaches and scouts (and media) have to schlep significant distances (or through traffic) to get to where they need to go, more coaches may decide it makes more sense to stay home for the week.
Will that be enough to get the NFL to not give L.A. or Dallas or Las Vegas a try? Time will tell. It could be that the league needs to see that it doesn’t work as well in another city before realizing that it should stay where it’s always been.