2026 NFL Draft host city Pittsburgh readies for record crowds: 'Gonna be nuts'

Pittsburgh’s busiest days ever? Could be 2026 NFL draft

The NFL held the draft in New York for decades before moving it to Chicago in 2015. Since 2017, it’s been in a different host city every season, often one that is considered prohibited – by weather, stadium or size – from hosting a Super Bowl. The 2025 draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin, drew more than 600,000 fans, according to the NFL. Only more fans visited Nashville in 2019 for a draft.

Using the reported attendance from past host sites Detroit, Kansas City and Green Bay, Bachar said Pittsburgh modeled its estimate to of 500,000-700,000 over three days, or essentially 250,000 visitors per day. The Steel City’s population is 300,000. A month ago, the city hosted St. Patrick’s Day parade, which usually draws a similar number to what they expect to see daily for the draft.

“We’re looking at this as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade three days in a row,” Bachar said. “So we know we’re going to be ready for it. We know that we have the infrastructure that’s ready for it.”

The Steelers have been working with Visit Pittsburgh hand-in-hand. Visit Pittsburgh visited Kansas City and Detroit to learn hosting best practices. The organization also consulted with Philadelphia and Cleveland.

“Obviously, the bar has been set very high lately … so we’re looking forward to following in that tradition,” Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II told reporters when Pittsburgh was announced as the draft site for this year in 2024.

Rooney added that it could be the largest visitor event in the city’s history.

Pittsburgh schools closing during NFL draft

The school system won’t test that theory, however, as public schools – servicing 19,000 children – are moving to online learning from Wednesday to Friday. (Green Bay also closed schools last year.) Visit Pittsburgh met with school officials earlier this year.

“We wanted them to have as much information as early as possible so they could decide what their school schedule was going to be,” Bachar said.

The biggest takeaway from meeting with other host cities, Bachar said, is that the NFL wants the draft front and center – simple as that may sound. The City of Bridges will be the backdrop for roughly 55 million viewers over three days. The angle of the stage and the angles provided by drone footage will highlight the confluence of the three rivers and the city’s architecture.

“The way to celebrate Pittsburgh is really just to show up and look at all of the amazing investment going into the city because of this event,” Bachar said.

The downtown area’s civic benefits – roads completed, sidewalks repaired, beatification projects finished – will outlast draft weekend. The event is free, and fans can access downtown via free rides on the light rail system or the park and ride system.

More: NFL draft in Pittsburgh: What to know about tickets, parking, schedule

2026 NFL draft will be much different than last time event was in Pittsburgh

The roots of pro football in Western Pennsylvania are deep. The Steelers are one of the NFL’s oldest and proudest franchises, and the Rooney family is considered a steward of the sport.

“Football is very much intertwined with the legacy of this entire region,” Bachar said.

Another reason why organizers are confident in audience projections is because of the event's location within the hotbed of football in the United States. Eleven other NFL markets and 35 Division I schools are within driving distance. The Steelers’ “black and yellow” is a worldwide brand.

Dan Marino and Joe Montana, two of the greatest quarterbacks to throw the pigskin, are from the Pittsburgh area. Coaching royalty such as Mike Ditka, Marty Schottenheimer and Bill Cowher hail from the area. The team’s new head coach, Mike McCarthy, became emotional during his introductory news conference while talking about growing up there. Three of the best NFL players in this century – Aaron Donald, Darelle Revis and Larry Fitzgerald – played collegiately at Pittsburgh, furthering the ties between the area and the game.

As the draft-site infrastructure underwent a final stretch of finishing touches about a week before NFL commissioner Roger Goodel was due to approach the podium to open the draft, it brought a visual understanding to Bachar of everything he and his team had been working toward for the last two years.

In late 1947, however, the draft had a different feel.

“The whole aura and atmosphere of the draft was completely different. The Rooneys' two offices on the first floor of the hotel were the site and 40 men were stuffed in there. The draft started at 6 p.m. and by early morning, the draft was concluded,” Heinz History Center chief historian and director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum Anne Madarasz told the Beaver County Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, last year. “Sports reporters tried to figure out picks, owners like Rooney didn’t tell anyone who he drafted.”

That won’t be the case at this draft, which certainly won’t be that efficient – or fit into two rooms.

Contributing: Tyler Dragon, USA TODAY; Ethan Morrison, Beaver County Times

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL draft host Pittsburgh ready for record crowd: How many are expected