Detroit ‘in the running’ for hosting a future NFL Draft

Since becoming team president, one of Rod Wood’s goals has been to bring a big NFL event to Detroit, whether it be the NFL Draft or the Super Bowl. With Detroit having hosted the Super Bowl in 2006, the NFL Draft always seemed like the more realistic goal.

Wood and Detroit were denied for the 2019 and 2020 drafts and weren’t one of the five finalists to host the event. This year, Nashville hosted the NFL Draft. Next year’s will be in Las Vegas.

However at Wednesday’s “Taste of the Lions” event, Wood announced that they were being considered for the next set of drafts.

“We’re in the running for a couple years from now for an opportunity to bring the draft here,” Wood said. “You can’t do what they did in Nashville, but there are things we may be able to do that would be in that vein, and have the whole downtown showcased, and probably use multiple venues.”

The league has been moving the NFL Draft around from city to city since leaving its primary location at Radio City Music Hall in New York City back in 2015. This year’s draft in Nashville produced both record attendance and record ratings. Though Wood admitted Nashville had the advantage of having its unique Broadway area, he paid close attention of the city’s event and used it as a learning process.

“I think what we learned is we need to do something, if we’re going to do it here, that’s really iconically Detroit,” Wood said. “So we have a few ideas on how we may do that.”

We won’t know for some time if Detroit will win out. According to Wood, the 2021 and 2022 NFL Drafts are expected to be voted on at next year’s owner meetings in the spring.

Regardless, Wood is optimistic that the continual improvements in the city downtown will give Detroit a fighting chance.

“It’s changing every month in a positive way, so I’m excited that we’re going to get an opportunity to bring one here.”