The NFL draft has become such a production that the league starts planning each one about two and a half years in advance.
Starting last summer, some of the main partners in the 2026 draft, set to be held this week in Pittsburgh, began meeting regularly to discuss the planning and logistics and the impact the draft would have on the city at large.
These meetings included representatives from the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the tourism agency Visit Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Public School District and officials from city transportation and public safety, according to Wayne N. Walters, district superintendent, and a public school official who attended the meetings, Merecedes J. Williams.
In February, Williams said, the group began receiving “more high-level updates of information than we had ever gotten,” on road closures and the number of visitors expected. Local officials have said they expect around 500,000 to 700,000 people; Pittsburgh only has a population of 300,000. Traffic and transportation would be disrupted, security heightened. For three days, the draft would essentially consume downtown Pittsburgh, as it had in other cities in years past.
In these meetings, Williams said, the group discussed the possibility of schools going remote during the draft. She said they had a “thoughtful conversation,” going through the pros and cons, and then she reported all this information back to the superintendent and district leadership. “We then made the executive decision,” she said.
