Why The 2023 NFL Draft In Kansas City Is The Biggest Draft Site Ever
With approximately 3.1 million square feet, the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City will be the biggest event site in NFL history.
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The 2023 NFL Draft In Kansas City Is The Biggest Draft Site Ever by Jeff Fedotin
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With a footprint of approximately 3.1 million square feet, the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City will be the biggest event site in NFL history.
That number represents a million more square feet than either of the last two drafts in Cleveland and Las Vegas.
“We always want to make things bigger and better,” said Katie Keenan, the NFL’s senior director of live event operations. “When you see it in person, it’s just massive.”
Another reason for the mammoth size is the NFL wanted the draft theater to highlight the façade of Union Station, which is known for its three large windows.
“It had to be tall enough and wide enough,” Keenan said, “that we could use the building itself as a backdrop.”
To do so, the NFL constructed its largest theater structure for the draft. The 378’ x 176’ structure is about the size of a football field.
The 2023 NFL Draft also will feature the most TV screens, including two IMAX-size screens — that flank the theater structure — for the first time in draft history. Union Station’s windows will have custom, arched LED screens.
Since the venue includes both the National World War I Museum and Memorial and Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Mo., there will be 10 screens outside, so that fans can see from farther away.
All in all, the draft site will feature 10,018 square feet of screens, 31,353,344 pixels and 1,433 LED panels.
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The setup is larger but probably most similar to Philadelphia for the 2017 draft, which featured a long and narrow path from Benjamin Franklin Parkway up to the famous Rocky stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Although Philadelphia was flat, Kansas City has a hillier topography going up to the World War I Museum and Memorial.
The lawns of the National World War I Museum will be where fans can gather. The north lawn of the museum will have a viewing area and feature a Bud Light beer garden. The south lawn of the museum has the NFL Experience interactive exhibits.
The biggest ever draft theater and stage, where the NFL rookies will embrace Goodell, is set up outside and in front of Union Station. The stage is covered, and there are indoor contingency plans in place in the case of very extreme weather.
The green room, where the rookies wait with their families to be to selected, will be inside of Union Station.
The entire draft site includes 7.5 miles of temporary fence line, 1.5 miles of concrete barrier, more than 500 truckloads of gear, 168 total loudspeakers and subwoofers and more than 400,000 watts of sound amplification power.
Construction on the site began on March 27. At first, the staff of workers was a couple of hundred. But by the final week, it has numbered in the thousands.
The work was slated to be completed on the night of Tuesday, April 25 — two nights before the first round of the draft.
As with many of its tentpole events, the NFL absorbs most of the setup costs.
That is a boon for Kansas City, as the three-day draft, which lasts from April 27 to 29, is expected to have an economic impact on the city of more than $100 million, according to Visit KC’s calculations.
That sum would come from hotels, restaurants, merchandise, transportation and food and beverage sales. Taxes on the latter will further benefit the city.
The NFL predicted around 300,000 will attend the free event, and city officials are hopeful the number could approach the record of 600,000 who attended the Nashville, Tenn., draft in 2019.
“You better get the barbecue fired up and ready to go because we’ll have a lot of folks here,” Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “I’m excited for the city.”
Reid, of course, guided the Chiefs to the Super Bowl title in February, adding to the festiveness and uniqueness of the event.
Since moving from New York City and becoming a traveling road show in 2015, the draft has not appeared in a city that is home to a reigning Super Bowl champion — until this year.
“We’ve never had that before,” Keenan said. “The kind of excitement in this market is just kind of insane.”
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Justyn Farano is a contemporary sports artist who creates dynamic and colorful artworks that celebrate athletes and their achievements. He is known for his vibrant style and ability to capture the essence of sports moments in his paintings. Farano has created artworks for many high-profile athletes, including Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods.
His works have been featured in galleries and museums around the world, and he has been commissioned to create artworks for major sporting events and organizations. His art has decorated Tom Brady's player suite at Gillette Stadium when he was a Patriot. Here is Farano's collaboration with 2x Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.
This original painting by Justyn Farano depicts Patrick Mahomes, the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs and the face of the NFL. Even in the early stages of his career, Mahomes is smashing records and is on pace to break many more. He is one of only two players in NFL history to throw 50 touchdown passes and 5,000 yards in a single season. Mahomes has earned an NFL Most Valuable Player award, and a 2x Super Bowl MVP award, and has led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl LIV and LVII championships. Grab this Farano masterpiece and score big.
Last week we broke down the top 10 NFL prospects, regardless of class, at Air Force, Akron, Alabama, UAB and Appalachian State. It’s our first partnership on the Profile Reports with InsideTheLeague.com and Todd Worly, veterans of evaluation and who have collaborated as part of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl team for several years.
Click here for all five of this week’s reports, plus every report we’ve filed on FBS schools since 2010. It’s never too early to start looking at who you should recruit next year and beyond.
Inside The League provides an in-depth analysis of the issues facing people who make football their business. Learn more about their services at www.InsideTheLeague.com
The assembled football universe took a brief break for the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, to recognize and honor some of the top executives in the pro football industry on Wednesday, March 1st at the 14th Annual USI Insurance Holdings Inside The League Combine (ITL) Seminar Presented By American Tens are in! ITL founder Neil Stratton was MC for the event, which drew over 300 attendees from various segments of the football community.
April Pre-Agent Exam Zoom Update:
Calculating minimum tenders for franchise and transition players
Preseason split and in-season split, types of splits, definition, etc.
Calculating contracts with up/down amounts
Calculating payment to a player on PS
Extended injury protections and worker’s compensation offsets
Registration is $50 plus tax, and as always, everyone who registers gets the video, as well. Just make sure you have a gmail email address (ends in @gmail.com), or you won’t be able to access the video, which is set to “private” (you also will need to log into YouTube to view it). Anyway, stay tuned. We’ll begin signing everyone up next week. By the way, you can purchase ether of our first two videos (February and March) for $35 plus tax each. For topics covered, or to order a video, email us at nstratton@insidetheleague.com
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Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.
Rep Rumblings: We had four reports this past week.
On Monday, we discussed our new partnership with NFL Draft Bible, plus we passed along the last NFL local pro day date and discussed a possible intern vacancy in New York.
Tuesday, we broke down the big story of Terry McDonough’s lawsuit against the Cardinals and had a few insights and observations. We also had a couple notes on agency transitions.
Wednesday, we discussed Nicole Lynn’s rise that resulted in her new post as President of Football at Klutch Sports Group, plus we had an agent change for an NFL Combine invitee and we got the exact date of the 2023 NFL Agent Exam.
Finally, on Thursday, we had a little scouting change buzz, plus we had agent ties to an Alabama player and the announcement for Monday night’s Zoom.
Check out all of this year’s Rep Rumblings reports, plus every report we’ve filed since 2013, here.
Next week: Eight days until the USFL’s new season kicks off, and eight days until 51 schools play their respective spring games (14 FBS schools play their spring games in the next week). Just under three weeks till draft day. Three weeks until the XFL playoffs begin. Here’s what we’ve got over the next week.
Our New Agent Zoom for April is Monday at 9 p.m. ET. ITL’s Neil Stratton will host, as usual, with former Titans scouting executive Blake Beddingfield around as guest host. If you’re an active ITL client, and it’s your first year certified, you’ll be sent the Zoom link Monday afternoon. Click here for more details.
We’ve moved the (still tentative) date for our next Pre-Agent Exam Zoom with Ian Greengross to Tuesday, April 18, at 9 p.m. ET. As you know, we’ll go about an hour, and we’ll cover topics related that are key to passing the test. We’ll start the registration process next week.
We’ll be back with four more Rep Rumblings reports, mostly addressing the 2023 draft class, the latest in the USFL or XFL, scouting change buzz, agent movement and other football business updates.
In Succeed in Football, we’ll look at the game as we close in on the draft and, simultaneously, prepare for active play in two credible alternative leagues, a rarity and a blessing for all who coach, scout or play football.
We’ll break down the top prospects at Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State and Auburn as part of our Profile Report series.
If you’re preparing for this summer’s agent exam, we recommend you begin studying immediately if you haven’t already. Our exam prep aids are time-tested and accepted across the industry. Here’s a look at what we offer.
That’s what next week looks like. Need help getting where you need to be in the game?
We can help. Don’t believe us? Come and see.
Neil Stratton
The ITL practice agent exam
Partner, XFL
Board Member, College Gridiron Showcase, 2016-22
Special advisor, '11 Eastham Energy College All-Star Game
Executive Director, '08 Hula Bowl
Personnel Director, '07 Inta Juice North-South All-Star Classic
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“I have worked with Neil for 6 years in the areas of college football and the sport agent industry. I could not have worked with a more professional and detailed-oriented individual that a has pulse on the industry. In addition, he has developed a tremendous sport agent education program that I would highly recommend for all Division I football programs and compliance offices to look into and bring him on their campuses. There is never enough education in this area. Neil brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in this area.”
Brian Battle, Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance, Florida State University
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Margaret Bailey, mother of Cincinnati DE/TE/OLB Connor Barwin, the 46th pick (second round) in the 2009 NFL draft by the Houston Texans
