Trump announces NFL Draft to take place on National Mall

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The NFL Draft will be held on the National Mall in 2027, President Donald Trump announced Monday, with the expectation that more than 1 million people will come to the event over the course of its three days.

Trump spoke to the right of the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office of the White House. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Commanders team owner Josh Harris and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked the president for his cooperation in helping to get the deal done.

“The draft has really become one of the great entertainment and sports events,” Goodell said. “Over a week ago in Green Bay, we had over 600,000 people attend. The year before, in Detroit, we had close to 800,000. … We believe we’ll be well over a million when we come here to D.C. in 2027.

“Not only do we believe it’s a great site, we believe it’s consistent with what the president said, which is investing in our communities and investing specifically here in the nation’s capital. … We think we can have a tremendous impact on this community. It will not just be an event. It will be something that will show the world how far the nation’s capital has come and where it’s going.”

Donald Trump, Roger Goodell and Josh Harris

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Harris called it a “great day for Washington.” He presented the president with a Commanders jersey and called Trump the “ultimate commander.”

The draft was, at one point, a permanent fixture at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The event was held all in one day. However, as the NFL took the draft on the road, the event moved to three days. Chicago hosted it in 2015-16 with Philadelphia and Dallas hosting it after that.

Goodell announced the picks from home in the 2020 draft because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City and Detroit had it after that.