NFL draft on tour for a decade; next stop Detroit

The NFL draft has taken the show on the road for a decade, giving cities around the country a chance to be in the spotlight.

Detroit is on the clock.

The Motor City, which was once one of the nation’s largest and most powerful cities, has bounced back from filing for bankruptcy in 2013.

Fans driving and flying into town from the league’s other 31 teams will see signs of progress from the symbolic to the significant.

DETROIT is spelled out, each letter standing 10 feet off an embankment alongside a freeway between the airport and downtown, in an art installation that made its debut earlier this month.

A few miles away, the long-abandoned Michigan Central Station has undergone a renovation funded by Ford Motor Co. to transform the 18-story, 113-year-old train depot from an eyesore into a gem.

In the heart of downtown, where the NFL draft will begin Thursday night, a 685-foot-high tower represents the largest construction project in the city in more than a half-century as it rises from the site of the former Hudson’s department store.

With more than 50 million viewers and an expected 400,000 visitors over the three-day event, there will be a chance to change the conversation about the city.

Lions President Rod Wood pitched the city as a draft destination in 2016 and teamed up with the Detroit Sports Commission a year later to submit the formal bid to land the NFL’s annual event that gives fans from each team a jolt of hope.

That’s part of the NFL’s plan, and it has led to 20-plus cities vying for a future draft. Green Bay will host next year’s draft.

After the league had its last draft in New York a decade ago, it envisioned giving cities — particularly those in colder climates that may not host a future Super Bowl — a chance to have a signature event that would have a lot of benefits, including an economic impact.

Chicago was the first tour stop in 2015 and it generated $81 million for the community. Kansas City had it last year, sparking $164 million in economic impact.




(AP Photo Carlos Osorio)