NFL Combine’s Future: Indianapolis ‘Fighting’ to Remain Long-Term Host

The NFL Scouting Combine takes place this week in downtown Indianapolis, where the event has been held every year since 1987. Indianapolis wants to keep it that way long-term—but as the annual gathering of top draft prospects continues to grow, that’s no longer a guarantee.

In 2021, the league began allowing other cities to bid on hosting the combine, as it does for the Super Bowl and NFL Draft, and requiring Indianapolis to do the same. The current contract for Lucas Oil Stadium and the adjacent Indiana Convention Center to host runs through next year’s edition. And even though Indianapolis is popular among almost all regular combine attendees, anything is on the table for 2027 and beyond. 

If the combine were to move or rotate, plenty of NFL markets with indoor venues could theoretically make sense as hosts:

• Atlanta
• Dallas
• Detroit
• Houston
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis
• Nashville (new stadium opening 2027)
• New Orleans
• Phoenix

At last year’s combine, the NFL hosted officials from Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Phoenix to discuss hosting a future edition. But the league isn’t trying to make any news about the combine’s future this week. 

“We understand there are a number of markets interested in exploring hosting the event,” an NFL spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “Our focus is on staging a successful combine in Indianapolis [this] week and in 2026.”

An Indy Tradition

After the NFL’s strategy shift in 2021, Visit Indy, the city’s tourism authority, started working with the Indiana Sports Corp, a local nonprofit, to beef up its NFL combine bidding efforts.

Indiana Sports Corp president Patrick Talty told FOS that while there are “always discussions happening,” formal talks about 2027 and beyond are still yet to come. “We’ve been working so hard and fighting so hard to keep it that we haven’t really talked about the ‘what if,’” Talty said when asked about the potential of Indianapolis losing the combine. 

But Talty understands why the NFL is shopping the event around. “They also have a duty to make sure that they’re putting the events in the right places and getting the best leverage out of their assets,” he said.

The Contenders Are …

With the combine potentially up for grabs, officials from Houston and Minneapolis expressed specific interest in hosting when contacted by FOS, but made it clear that the combine isn’t their first choice for major NFL events. 

Harris County – Houston Sports Authority CEO Ryan Walsh said the city sent the NFL an expression of interest last year for hosting events in 2029 and 2030 and would be “excited for any opportunity, whether it’s combine, draft, or Super Bowl.” However, the primary focus is hosting another Super Bowl, which was last played at NRG Stadium in 2017. The next available Super Bowl is in 2029.

“Our interest is really just focusing on the future of [the] Super Bowl in Houston, and making sure we can get that back,” Walsh said. “Always happy to host and entertain any event that wants to come to the city of Houston.”

For Minneapolis, hosting an NFL Draft is the “top priority,” Minnesota Sports and Events president and CEO Wendy Williams Blackshaw said. But officials are keeping an open mind.

“We have talked about [the] combine,” Blackshaw said. “We’re looking as it evolves. They’ve talked about having it more like [the] draft, like a traveling, rotating event. The thing we always like about these events is you can make it fit the personality of your market. It sounds like they are really trying to expand [the] combine. Yes, we definitely would be interested in that as well.”

Minneapolis hosted Super Bowl LII in 2018 shortly after U.S. Bank Stadium opened, but it isn’t likely to get another Super Bowl in the near future.

Out of the Running?

Officials from two other cities that could be a fit for the combine told FOS they are not making big efforts right now.

A spokesperson from the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission said, “With the slate of confirmed events we are hosting over the next few years—NBA All-Star in 2026, the U.S. Women’s Open, the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Olympics—we aren’t pursuing the hosting of the combine.”

A spokesperson for the Phoenix Convention Center & Venues said, “Officials from the City of Phoenix are not currently engaged in any ongoing conversations with the NFL regarding the NFL Scouting Combine. The City of Phoenix has a proven track record when it comes to hosting mega sporting events, and the City remains interested in bringing more large-scale events to our destination in the coming years.”

Requests for comments from officials in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, and New Orleans were either declined or not answered.

However, a source told FOS that while Las Vegas officials will not be in Indianapolis like they were last year, they would be open to a conversation with the NFL about hosting a future combine if the dates were applicable.

Like Los Angeles and others, Atlanta has a busy slate of hosting duties over the next few years, and late February/early March each year is the beginning of Atlanta United’s Major League Soccer season, playing home matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

For Indianapolis, the reluctance to host from other cities, especially amid crowded sporting slates, may be enough to help it keep the combine from moving at all. “The experience of hosting it makes us comfortable with it,” Talty said. “If you haven’t ever hosted that before, you might not be as comfortable with it to deliver.”