NFL Announces NFL Draft Will Take Place In Downtown Cleveland

After much back and forth, it has finally been determined that the city of Cleveland will get the 86th NFL Draft after all.

The league officially announced today that downtown Cleveland will host the draft, which will take place from April 29th through May 1st.

Locations for various events surrounding the draft will include FirstEnergy Stadium, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Great Lakes Science Center.

The NFL announced that they are going back to the traditional in-person draft this year. Last season's event in Las Vegas was virtual due to COVID.

The league stated that it will use the draft to promote vaccines. Right now, about 1/4 of adults in Ohio having gotten at least one shot. All Ohio adults will become eligible on March 29th, meaning that most attending the draft will already have been vaccinated.

“We have been characterizing it as a ‘large, live, in-person event,” Greater Cleveland Sports Commission CEO David Gilbert said, with a crowd described as “the largest event in this city in many years, certainly since the Republican Convention.”