President Trump announced Monday that the 2027 NFL draft will take place on the National Mall, the first time the event will be held in the nation’s capital since 1941.
Drafts of that era were decidedly low-key affairs, but the event has since mushroomed into the NFL’s premier off-season draw — a multi-day football festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of fans to host cities.
“The draft is a celebration of one of our country’s most cherished cultural institutions and the annual highlights for football fans everywhere,” Mr. Trump said. “Everyone in the world is going to be watching.”
Mr. Trump made the announcement from the Oval Office with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in attendance.
The three-day 2027 event in which NFL teams will select incoming rookies from that year’s class of prospects will be held on the Mall, the first time the event has been held there. The 1941 NFL draft was held at the Willard Hotel downtown.
Ms. Bowser predicted the draft will attract one million people to Washington and provide a financial boost.
“We believe in investing in sports because they have helped us transform neighborhoods and the NFL bringing this event to the nation’s capital will help us fill hotel rooms, our restaurants and Americans from all 50 states will come to their nation’s capital and enjoy our beautiful city and museums,” she said.
From 1965 to 2014, the draft was held in New York City and for much of that period in a nondescript office setting. But it has since rotated to different cities and become a public event and a host-city showcase.
More than 600,000 people attended the three-day extravaganza in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this year. The draft is scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh in 2026.
Early reactions from NFL diehards were overwhelmingly positive. The prospect of the NFL’s future stars coming to the nation’s capital is an exciting one for the region’s football fanatics.
“They’re going to have the draft, which is the center of the sports world — the sports world’s attention — for two or three days,” Eric Bickel, host of the “Sports Junkies” show on local sports-radio station 106.7 The Fan, said on Monday morning. “How cool is that?”
It’s still the District, though, so several details will need to be ironed out.
The National Park Service prohibits alcohol sales on the Mall. That may be an issue for the legions of fans who often celebrate the three-day event with tailgating and beverages.
Organizers can obtain waivers for beer and wine, though government officials have not said whether the NFL would receive that benefit.
Tickets to the draft are free, but local officials believe the tourism revenue would be a needed boon for the city’s economy.
“The NFL Draft will provide football fans with an unforgettable experience while showcasing all that makes Washington, D.C., a world-class destination and the Sports Capital,” Events DC President and CEO Angie Gates said in a statement.
After years of controversy under former Redskins/Commanders owner Dan Snyder, the NFL is now embracing the Washington area’s franchise, which had previously been one of the league’s marquee teams, with open arms.
The announcement comes after the Commanders and Ms. Bowser announced last week that the team will return to the city with plans to build a new stadium at the site of RFK Stadium. The Commanders have played in Landover, Maryland, since 1997.
The stadium still needs approval from the D.C. Council and is not planned to open until 2030. A vote on the stadium proposal is expected in July.
If approved, the stadium could bring a Super Bowl to the District. Mr. Goodell noted last week that the stadium — which would have a fixed or retractable roof — “drastically” improves the city’s shot at hosting the league’s title game.
A new domed stadium also could attract other such high-profile events as NCAA basketball’s Final Four or Wrestlemania in a way nowhere in Washington currently could.
While Mr. Trump and the NFL appear to be on the same page for now, their relationship has been rocky since the 1980s. Mr. Trump and the NFL have long held an on-again/off-again feud that began when he owned a team in a rival football league and carried through his first term as president.
In the mid-1980s, Mr. Trump owned the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League, which had formed as a rival to the NFL. As owner, Mr. Trump acted lavishly to lure top talent to the new league, which drew the ire of NFL owners. He landed Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy-winning running back, by offering him $5 million over three years in what was then the richest contract in the history of professional football.
Mr. Trump led the other USFL owners in a 1986 lawsuit against the NFL alleging antitrust violations. He predicted the lawsuit would force the NFL to offer a merger and billions of dollars in damages.
A jury ruled that the NFL had violated antitrust laws but concluded that USFL’s financial problems were of its own making and awarded only a symbolic $1 in damages. Damages are tripled in antitrust cases, so Mr. Trump’s case yielded the USFL a total of $3. It then folded under the strain of those financial problems and the legal fees it incurred to bring the case in a last-ditch effort to save itself.
In 2014, Mr. Trump tried to buy the Buffalo Bills, offering $1 billion for the franchise. He was outbid by Terry Pegula, who paid $1.4 billion.
Perhaps the biggest spat came during Mr. Trump’s first term when he criticized players, led by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, for kneeling during the national anthem before games to protest racial inequality and police brutality against Black Americans.
Mr. Trump said the protests “disrespect our flag” and called on NFL owners to punish players who took a knee from the field during games. He also linked the NFL’s ratings dip at the time to the protests as well as new rules aimed at making the game less violent to limit concussions and other head injuries.
In response to his criticism of Kaepernick, some NFL players decided to boycott the traditional White House visit by the Super Bowl-winning team. In 2018, only three members of the Philadelphia Eagles accepted the invitation to the White House and Mr. Trump then rescinded it.
However, Mr. Trump and the NFL have appeared to patch things up. In February, he became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl. In addition, the NFL removed the “End Racism” message from the end zones last season for the first time since 2021. That move came after Mr. Trump signed an executive order terminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, though the NFL denies that played a role in removing the messaging.
This season, several NFL players were spotted doing the “Trump dance,” in which they move their arms and fists in a dance similar to what the president did to the Village People’s “YMCA” at the end of his campaign rallies.
Brock Bowers, Nick Bosa, Za’Darius Smith, Malcolm Rodriguez, Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook all did the Trump dance during the season.
Bosa even wore a “Make America Great Again” hat during a post-game interview with NBC last year. The NFL fined him $11,255 for violating league rules banning clothing that “contained a personal message.”
Last month, however, Mr. Trump criticized NFL owners for not drafting University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the first round. In a social media post, he questioned whether owners were “stupid” for not drafting Sanders, predicting he is “all set for greatness.”
Sanders, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was expected to be a top pick, but fell to the fifth round where he was taken by the Cleveland Browns. According to numerous reports, the drop was significantly related to off-field matters such as his study habits, his high-profile father and the bad impression he gave during interviews.
