Minnesota appears to be the leading candidate to host the 2028 NFL Draft, while Cincinnati is reportedly the front-runner for 2029, according to Sports Business Journal.
Next week, the NFL’s events committee will convene to deliberate on hosting rights, followed by an anticipated ownership decision during the May 19-20 meetings in Orlando, Florida.
Washington, D.C.’s National Mall will serve as the venue for the 2027 NFL Draft.
Back in March, the Minnesota Vikings partnered with Minnesota Sports and Events to submit their hosting proposal, which would feature U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis as the primary location. Additional activities would span across St. Paul, the Mall of America, and the Viking Lakes development surrounding the team’s headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota, according to the report.
Both the Vikings organization and the NFL chose not to provide comments regarding the Sports Business Journal article published Thursday.
Buffalo has also thrown its hat in the ring as a potential host city for the 2028 draft.
Should the league opt to assign two draft locations simultaneously, Cincinnati appears to hold the advantage for the 2029 event.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week, Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that “we’re going to probably have to start allocating the drafts a little further in advance” given the event’s growing scale. Last month’s draft in Pittsburgh established a new attendance milestone with 805,000 participants, while Washington, D.C. officials have established an ambitious target of attracting 1 million fans to next year’s three-day celebration.
