Why the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh Will Be Unlike Any Other
Prior drafts have taken place at iconic urban destinations and landmark stadiums. Visitors to the 2026 NFL Draft will simultaneously get both experiences.
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In 1964, when trailblazing Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr., was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, he gave a simple speech, first and foremost thanking the “people of Pittsburgh and all the sports fans everywhere.”
Some 62 years later, those are the two groups that will be the foremost beneficiaries of the 2026 NFL Draft. The people of Pittsburgh will have the chance to show off the city, its passions and its neighborly values. And sports fans from far and wide will come to the Steel City — and discover that there’s never been a better place to celebrate the game of football.
Since the NFL Draft became a major draw for visiting football fans, the event has been held at some marquee stadiums, including Green Bay’s Lambeau Field and the massive AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Draft also has popped up in iconic destinations such as the Eakins Oval in Philadelphia and the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas.
In Pittsburgh, however, the Draft gets both.
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The 2026 event will be held both inside Acrisure Stadium — the home turf of the Pittsburgh Steelers, on Pittsburgh’s hallowed ground of football, the North Shore — and in and around beautiful Point State Park. An NFL field, a recognizable landmark, a major Downtown center — why choose?
Come to Pittsburgh and you can have all three, almost on top of one another.
“I think the scene in and around Pittsburgh will make it unique,” says Steelers play-by-play broadcaster Rob King, “and our city is one that shows up well — and shows off well.”
King also takes pride in Acrisure Stadium, noting that fans visiting the facility have an opportunity to brush up on their history.
“The Steelers [Hall of Honor] Museum [at Acrisure Stadium] is incredible. They’ve done an unbelievable job with that. Fans will definitely want to check that out … It takes you through the early history, pre-Steelers,” he explains, including the first recorded professional football game; it took place just a short walk from where Acrisure Stadium sits today. “There’s some interactive stuff for fans, for younger kids. I think it’s fantastic.”
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Via bridges, rivers and roads, King adds, the stadium will be very accessible to visitors. “Fans are going to come in and maybe be able to take a riverboat, disembark on the riverwalk. All of that is going to give you an interconnectedness.”
The 2025 NFL Draft was held at Lambeau Field, the landmark home of the Green Bay Packers. Stefani Pashman, chief executive officer of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, traveled to Wisconsin last year to see the Draft in action. She saw what the NFL Draft can offer to a community — and, just as importantly, how Pittsburgh could improve on Green Bay’s model.
“Green Bay was a terrific experience, but it was about the Draft and about the stadium and about the football,” Pashman explains. “You weren’t really centered in the iconography of the region … It was a wonderful NFL experience, but I think this is going to be a uniquely Pittsburgh experience.
“The experience we’re going to create for people who arrive is inextricably linked to the city … It’s people who are crossing our bridges, connecting with our rivers, seeing our retail and our restaurants.”
PHOTO BY DAVE DICELLO
She adds that the major improvements tied to the 2026 NFL Draft will impact Pittsburghers long after the final name is called.
“Every single thing that we conceived of and operationalized related to Downtown revitalization,” she says, “is for the long-term. These are projects that are able to outlast the draft and be iconic structures for the people of this region.”
For visitors, however, there’s going to be a lot of Pittsburgh to explore — and the ability to do so with ease.
“People can come to visit Pittsburgh and be part of the Draft [and enjoy] our museums, our arts, our theaters … The look and feel of this place,” Pashman says. “It’s not just walking away and saying Acrisure Stadium and the NFL and the Steelers put on a great show. They’re gonna walk away and say, ‘I really connect with Pittsburgh.’”
