Still 11 months away, Art Rooney II, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the city are preparing for the 2026 NFL Draft like it’s right around the corner. Hosting the NFL’s marquee offseason event next April, Rooney spoke during a Monday event where a clock downtown was unveiled to count down the days.
“This is really going to be about, I think, is about having fun,” Rooney said in comments captured and shared by 93.7 The Fan. “If you talk to anybody who has been to the draft recently, the contingent we just had in Green Bay talked about how much fun people were having in Green Bay. Well, this is going to be about talking about how much fun we’re going to have in Pittsburgh.”
Rooney and the city made a full-court press to the NFL to put a future draft in Pittsburgh. Last year, they were officially awarded. It’ll be only the second time the team has hosted it, the first coming in 1948 when the draft was a far cry from the event it is today.
The draft has become a wildly popular event, with crowds in the hundreds of thousands across just a three-day weekend. Pittsburgh has teased upwards of one million attending next year. If so, it would be a draft record. This is a lofty goal, but one possible given the city’s central location to so many other football towns: Buffalo, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C., all just a couple of hours’ drive away.
Though the 2026 draft will come and go over 72 hours, Rooney pointed to the lasting impressions the event can make.
“It’s not just going to be one weekend,” he said. “It’s going to be talking about how much fun it is to live here, how much fun it is to visit here. Now, we have a whole year to talk about this.”
There’s no better way to sell the city than a weekend like the draft. It’s good for the local economy to see a surge of sales throughout the week. But in the long term, Pittsburgh could become a destination for fans to take trips to or move to.
Locally, the 2026 draft could also be one where Pittsburgh lands the franchise’s quarterback of the future. Armed with likely five picks in the first three rounds and a clear hole at the position, the Steelers could aggressively pursue one of next year’s top names. The city’s backdrop won’t be the primary reason for it, but it certainly doesn’t hurt and creates a potentially storybook outcome. Pittsburgh just has to select the right guy. Then, the city will have fun for much longer than draft weekend.
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