Kansas City was awarded the 2023 NFL Draft on Wednesday and it wasn’t long until city officials were praising the potential economic impact of the three-day event.
After years of attempts that landed the region among the finalists to host the NFL Draft, Kansas City was finally awarded the 2023 NFL Draft in an announcement on Wednesday after owners approved the next couple sites during recent spring meetings in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Kansas City had been mentioned as a finalist in previous drafts, but failed to secure any event as they watched other cities end up winning the bid. Nashville won the event for 2019, while K.C. also lost out to Dallas in 2018. On Wednesday, they received the news they’ve been anticipating for some time and they’re not the only city celebrating. The city of Cleveland was also excited to hear they’d won the right to host the 2021 NFL Draft, two years before K.C.
The city of Nashville went all out a few weeks ago to host the NFL Draft and their hard work paid off. Over 600,000 flocked to the area to visit downtown Nashville, and the resulting economic impact was significant. The festivities generated well over $10.5 million in taxes and fees alone, and the Tennesseean reported direct spending resulted in over $130 million.
Not only does the draft bring people for that single weekend, which helps bolster the area’s tourism industry in a major way, it also shines an important spotlight on what a city offers for potential tourists or even future residents. The record-breaking coverage of this year’s NFL Draft played up Nashville’s strengths to great effect, and the city was wise in tying in the draft in myriad ways in and around town. Musicians populated the stage on multiple occasions, and b-roll footage often showed Nashville’s nightlife throughout the three days of coverage.
On Thursday, Kansas City Mayor Sly James held a press conference to discuss the coming event and said it will be “one of the biggest events in the history of this city.”
Mayor Sly James on hosting the 2023 NFL Draft:
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 23, 2019
"we have the nicest people. We're going to have the opportunity to show it on a world wide stage."
Both Kathy Nelson and Chiefs team president Mark Donovan detailed some of the work involved to get to this point.
Kansas City first expressed a desire to host the NFL Draft in 2015 with a video and a presentation
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 23, 2019
The bid was presented in 2017, NFL site visit in 2018, another presentation in 2018.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 23, 2019
Kathy Nelson says conversations intensified in the last couple weeks, they were in near daily conversations with the NFL, and the selection was solidified in the last week.
Mark Donovan talks about the process of getting the bid for the NFL Draft. Says they tried for it a couple times, didn't get it, but each time, addressed things they needed to get done to host it. The hard work paid off, and now KC is hosting the 2023 draft.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 23, 2019
You can see the future NFL Draft site banner is already hanging in Union Station where much of the draft will be held in conjunction with the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
The 2023 NFL Draft banner is hanging in Union Station pic.twitter.com/Ol01d2NttC
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 23, 2019