Well, the NFL got what it wanted Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
Hours before Round 1 even started, the line to get into the Draft Experience was already thousands of people deep. The Steelers posted a video of fans lined up in broad daylight, and by the time ESPN was showing aerial shots on TV, the area outside Acrisure Stadium looked absolutely jammed.
Whatever official number winds up getting attached to it later, Pittsburgh already passed the eyeball test.
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And that’s really the whole point now.
The league has spent years turning this NFL Draft into a giant traveling football party, and Pittsburgh is the latest proof that the concept works.
Shocking development: football fans enjoy football. They don’t even need football being played on a field. The NFL has shown that it can put its commissioner on a stage, reading a bunch of names, and still draw hundreds of thousands of people to a venue. It’s quite impressive, honestly.
Pittsburgh is exactly the type of city that makes sense for the league to target for the NFL Draft. Pittsburgh isn’t getting a Super Bowl because it’s a cold winter city with an outdoor stadium. But the fanbase is rabid and hungry to host major events.
Plus, it looks great on TV. The skyline and the bridges produce a beautiful April backdrop. And the shot of that packed area outside Acrisure (still Heinz Field in the hearts of civilized people) is exactly what the league wants the country to see.
It also helps that this is the kind of city where people will actually show up for something like this. Because they genuinely care and that matters. It’s not like holding the draft in a city like Los Angeles where people are showing up simply so they have something cool to post on Instagram.
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For all the hand-wringing every year about how many prospects decide to attend in person, the NFL has made its choice pretty clear. It would much rather have a sea of fans outside than a few more players in the green room. That’s where the energy comes from. That’s what looks good on TV. And, more importantly for the league, that’s what keeps turning the draft into one of the biggest events on the sports calendar even though there’s not a single player in uniform taking a snap.
Pittsburgh delivered that before the first pick was even announced.
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Maybe the final attendance number winds up flirting with the biggest draft crowds we’ve seen. Maybe it doesn’t. But nobody looking at the scene Thursday could seriously argue that the city didn’t show up in a huge way.
The NFL wanted a monster crowd and a full-on festival atmosphere.
Pittsburgh gave it one.