Report: Bills to bid on hosting 2028 NFL Draft

The Buffalo Bills are planning a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft at the new Highmark Stadium, according to The Buffalo News.

Apr 27, 2023; Kansas City, MO, USA; Buffalo Bills fans during the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft at Union Station. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Can you think of a better Thursday night than booing Roger Goodell over a fresh order of chicken wings?

This hypothetical may soon be a reality, as The Buffalo News writer Ryan O’Halloran reports that the Buffalo Bills are planning a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft. The draft, if ultimately awarded to the team, would be conducted inside the new Highmark Stadium, the Bills’ under-construction venue that’s set to open in time for the 2026 NFL season.

According to O’Halloran, the organization anticipates that NFL clubs will receive an “expression of interest memorandum” from the league sometime this summer. 

“We’ve seen the success and growth of the draft in other markets,” Bills’ Chief Operating Officer Pete Guelli told O’Halloran. “[The NFL Draft] is the kind of [opportunity] we’re going to pursue as an organization, and we think the city of Buffalo would be absolutely perfect for this type of event.

“Our plan would be to express interest, and it’s competitive—there are no guarantees it will work out, but we want to go down that road.”

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Buffalo is perhaps a long shot to host an event of the scale and pageantry of the NFL Draft—the league reported that over 700,000 fans attended this year’s draft in Detroit. That said, the annual event has been awarded to smaller markets in recent years as the league attempts to diversify the recipients of its major offerings; Cleveland hosted the draft in 2021 before Detroit hosted it this year. Green Bay will conduct the draft next year with Pittsburgh hosting in 2026.

Buffalo—the 54th largest market in the United States—currently sits as the NFL’s second-smallest market, above only Green Bay (No. 69). Hotel and lodging availability is an issue frequently raised when the area is pitched as a potential host for major sporting events; as of February 2019, Visit Buffalo Niagara estimated that there were 2,385 hotel rooms in Buffalo. It’s possible that this number may have changed over the past five years, and it does not include lodging in surrounding towns and suburbs (though it would likely be just a marginal increase).

There’s precedent for a team hosting a draft from its stadium; Dallas hosted the 2018 event from AT&T Stadium, while Green Bay will conduct next year’s event from inside Lambeau Field. Bills owner Terry Pegula has had success in attracting major league drafts to the region in the past; the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres—also owned by Pegula—hosted the 2016 NHL Draft in downtown Buffalo's KeyBank Center.