Pittsburgh Draft Organizers Expect Up to 700K Fans

SAN FRANCISCO — Even as Super Bowl LX activities are still unfolding this week in the Bay Area, Pittsburgh officials and the NFL are looking ahead to the next big fan event on the league calendar—the 2026 Draft in April—and are pushing for what could be more historic totals for attendance and viewership. 

The NFL and the VisitPittsburgh tourism authority released on Tuesday the first official renderings for the upcoming Draft, with the event plan leaning further in to the unique, two-site setting for the showcase. The draft theater and main stage will be located on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, just outside Acrisure Stadium, home of the Steelers. 

That setting will allow ready camera views of the downtown Pittsburgh skyline and the city’s many bridges, including the famed Roberto Clemente Bridge. Those television considerations are significant as last year’s Draft in Green Bay was the second-most-watched ever, averaging 7.5 million viewers, up 27% from 2024.

The NFL Draft Experience fan festival, meanwhile, will be located at Point State Park, the famous downtown landmark at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. The Clemente Bridge that helps connect the two will be closed to vehicular traffic to create a pedestrian fan corridor. 

After the NFL originally awarded this year’s Draft to the Steel City in 2024, Steelers owner Art Rooney II predicted it would become “the largest visitor event in the history of Pittsburgh”—far surpassing a local sports history that includes the hosting of multiple MLB All-Star Games, several rounds of March Madness in both men’s and women’s college basketball, a litany of NFL and NHL playoff games, and the 2011 NHL Winter Classic, among others.

Nearly two years later, that bullishness remains firmly in place as organizers are currently projecting a turnout of somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 fans during the three-day event.

That total, if achieved, could match or beat last year’s draw in Green Bay of 600,000 tying for the second-biggest Draft attendance ever, and perhaps challenge the event record of 775,000 set in Detroit in 2024. It’s important to note, though, that the final attendance totals in both Detroit and Green Bay far surpassed some preliminary expectations, and a repeat occurrence in Pittsburgh would not be surprising.

For many of these Rust Belt cities, the Draft also marks an ability to bring in another major NFL event as they generally are not eligible to host a Super Bowl.