Pittsburgh is 136 days away from the NFL Draft, and facing budget concerns

With 136 days to go, a Downtown revamp in the works and tensions rising in City Hall, planning for next year’s NFL Draft is ramping up in Pittsburgh.

Officials from the NFL and Visit Pittsburgh, the local tourism organization spearheading draft planning, shared new details about the three-day event coming to the North Shore in April 2026 ahead of a closed-door town hall with residents on Monday night.

The draft — the “largest event that Pittsburgh has ever hosted” — is expected to generate between $115 and $215 million in direct spending locally, VisitPittsburgh CEO and President Jerad Bachar said.

In Detroit — which hosted the event in 2024 and mirrors Pittsburgh in size — the event generated about $161 million in visitors’ direct spending, according to Visit Detroit.

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