On Dec. 8, Pittsburghers got a significant look behind the curtain at planning for the 2026 NFL Draft, taking place in the city from April 23-25, 2026.In a Downtown address ahead of a closed-door meeting for residents, representatives from the NFL and VisitPittsburgh, the county’s tourism develop ment organization, revealed several new details about the massive three-day event. The draft will span the North Shore and Downtown — marking the first time, according to NFL officials, that the event’s footprint will cross a body of water. In addition to games and activities inside Acrisure Stadium, draft picks will be announced from a new soon-to-be-constructed Draft Theater in an adjacent North Shore parking lot, with a free fan festival, the NFL Draft Experience, to be held across the Allegheny River at Point State Park. The draft is projected to draw 500,000 to 700,000 visitors across three days, and has been consistently referred to by city and state officials as the largest event ever hosted in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh City Paper spoke with Pittsburgh’s Office of Nighttime Economy (ONE) — which connects hospitality and nightlife businesses, community members and groups, and city government — to get an early overview of the logistics involved and current expectations heading into 2026. While the NFL Draft is being planned by a central local organizing committee, ONE, a two-person office that includes nighttime economy manager Allison Harnden and nighttime economy coordinator Bret Kunash, sits on the Downtown and Ancillary Venues Committee, one of many subcommittees. Harnden and Kunash got their first experience with draft planning at a local watch party for last year’s NFL Draft, held in Green Bay, Wis. The event was hosted by a South Side neighborhood organization at Mario’s on East Carson Street. “It’s like Jerry Maguire,” Harnden jokes about her first impression. Mark Murphy, retired CEO of the Green Bay Packers, described the NFL Draft as a “three-day commercial” and economic boon for both the city and state, rivaled only by hosting a Super Bowl. (For a local point of comparison, Taylor Swift’s Era Tour concerts at Acrisure Stadium in June 2023 drew 400,000 fans to the North Shore, brought 85,000 riders to Pittsburgh Regional Transit, and generated $46 million in direct spending, according to ONE.) While the spotlight is on the central NFL-branded event, “from our standpoint, our role is to work with [local] businesses, to keep them informed, and also to [work with] the communities, the neighborhoods,” Harnden says. “Everybody wants a piece of this pie,” Harnden tells City Paper. “And we’re trying to figure out how they can do that.” Though diehard football fans might’ve travelled anywhere to see the draft, “I think we’re kind of charged with highlighting the city, and in our heads, we’re trying to think of it as a Pittsburgh-centric event,” Kunash adds. ONE takes an asset-based approach to community development, meaning they assess a community’s existing skills and resources, then strategically highlight them (in contrast to emphasizing deficits or relying on external experts). On the Ancillary Venues subcommittee, members “naturally aligned themselves with projects in their wheelhouse,” says Harnden. Their collective focus is activating venues not within the draft’s footprint, particularly during “un-programmed” times, like the evening before the event starts. Harnden says we can expect programming and arts events from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, as well site-specific happenings at the newly renovated Market Square or Arts Landing. Businesses atop Mt. Washington or on the South Shore, including the recently opened Distillery Complex, are hoping to capitalize on city views.“For our businesses here, it’s [also] managing expectations of how far out the economic boon is going to be,” Harnden says. “Then asking, how do you staff? How do you order your goods? What hours do you stay open?” Much of ONE’s work so far has been helping local businesses apply to become NFL Draft contractors through its Source Program, which solicits vendors ranging from food and beverage to audiovisual event support to janitorial services.“A lot of small businesses have never done a procurement process,” Harnden explains.A day after the NFL town hall, on Dec. 9, nearly 160 businesses from 10 counties surrounding Pittsburgh were invited to explore NFL contract opportunities, convening for the first time at CCAC’s North Campus. Changes overhauling and modernizing the city’s mobile vending program were also a year in the making, says Harnden, and represent the less obvious considerations made by the Ancillary subcommittee. ONE looked to other cities’ examples in order to streamline food vendor licensing, remove the “four-hour” rule requiring food trucks to change locations, and create group vending sites ahead of the NFL Draft.Another framework through which to view the draft, says Harnden, is considering it as Pittsburgh’s first “mega-event.”A term first coined in the hospitality industry in the late 1980s, a mega-event is a massive, temporary gathering that draws large crowds, global media, and significant investment, often causing major social and physical transformations at the host location. While mega-events can bring significant economic investment and urban renewal, they can also exacerbate gentrification, displacement, and an inequitable distribution of resources.The Olympics is the prototypical mega-event, Harnden says (and one might look to Beijing’s abandoned Olympic venues as an example of a negative consequence). Mega-events such as World’s Fairs or Expos or the World Cup are generally more common internationally, but a full slate is coming to Pennsylvania next year. In 2026, alongside other North American cities, Philadelphia will host a FIFA World Cup game, as well as an America250 event celebrating the nation’s Semiquincentennial. Serving as the president of the Nighttime Economy Culture and Policy (NITECAP) Alliance, Harnden has made connections with peers in other countries, including Belfast officials planning Fleadh, an eight-day music festival expected to draw one million people, in preparation.“They’re physically changing the city as we speak,” Kunash tells CP. “Which I think will probably look great. But how do you keep Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, or highlight Pittsburgh? … How can we incorporate the ancillary, the people ‘outside,’ the real Pittsburgh?” “[To me], that’s art and music and sports and film and food,” Kunash says. “And I think one of the ways is just highlighting the independent artists. It’s a good question, and I think we’re actively trying to do it that way.” The post ONE wants NFL Draft visitors to experience the “real” Pittsburgh appeared first on Pittsburgh City Paper | News, Dining, Music, Best Of, Arts, Film. ...read more read less