Josh Harris gets another win
Reports came out last night the Washington Commanders had won the bid to host the 2027 NFL draft. This has been a goal of managing partner Josh Harris; in fact, last year, he talked about the prospect of eventually hosting the draft on the National Mall. That is the plan for the event that is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of fans to the city. Harris is also planning to bring the team back to D.C. by building a new stadium on the site of the former RFK Stadium.
Josh Harris believes the NFL Draft coming to D.C. “will happen” eventually. Sounds like the organization and NFL have gone down that road a bit. Nothing set. Mentioned the cool factor of hosting on the National Mall. pic.twitter.com/bv3ZSpF0cg
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) August 25, 2024
The announcement about the 2027 draft is expected today from President Donald Trump and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. This will be the second major announcement Goodell has made for Washington, following last week’s stadium announcement with Harris and Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser. The team has aspirations to host a Super Bowl, which could happen as soon as two years after the new stadium opens (projected opening is 2030).
The Washington Post has some details on plans for the draft in Washington D.C.:
The Washington bid to host the 2027 draft has envisioned staging a significant portion of the three-day event on the National Mall, according to planning documents and emails obtained last year by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Park Service. Those documents provided insight into what local organizers internally referred to as “Project Breeze.”
The league, according to the emails, proposed having the main stage for the draft on Fourth Street between Madison and Jefferson drives, near the National Gallery of Art and the National Air and Space Museum. A portion also could be held on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, where attendees could flow to the Mall. It’s not clear whether the plans have changed since then.
The NFL draft was in Green Bay, WI this year, and they had over 600,000 fans over the three day event. Next year’s draft will be in Pittsburgh, PA for the second time, with the first happening in 1948. Washington’s first, and only, time hosting the draft happened in 1941. Washington’s second draft, with fans now in attendance, will be a special occasion on the National Mall.