Washington Commanders and D.C. Officials Optimistic About Hosting NFL Draft

The Washington Commanders and the District of Columbia are optimistic about their chances of hosting the 2027 NFL Draft.

Football fans crowd the NFL draft theater on Thursday, April 25, 2024 for the first day of the NFL Draft in Detroit. / Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK

This past April's 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, Michigan was hosted by the city and the Detroit Lions was a record-breaker. The event, which was held over three days, brought in a record 775,000 fans from all over the world with the opening round averaging 12.1 million viewers - once again showing the strength of the NFL.

After being held in the great city of New York as a start, the NFL draft has since moved around over the past ten years or so, turning to locations such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Arlington, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Kansas City.

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The NFL has done a fantastic job at marketing its brand and by rotating markets around the league to host the draft it not only widens the exposure of the league, but it also is a great economic driver for the host cities. The NFL has already announced its future locations for the 2025 and 2026 drafts, with Green Bay hosting in '25 and the announcement that Pittsburgh will host in '26 coming just last week.

Football fans crowd the NFL draft theater on Thursday, April 25, 2024 for the first day of the NFL Draft in Detroit. / Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK

"D.C. representatives and Washington Commanders officials are vying for the District to host a future NFL Draft"

- The Washington Post

The next year up for grabs will be 2027 with cities such as Charlotte and Denver making a hard push. However, according to Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske of The Washington Post, the District of Columbia and the Washington Commanders are optimistic about their chances of landing a spot to host the draft.

"D.C. representatives and Washington Commanders officials are vying for the District to host a future NFL Draft," the report states. "And are optimistic that the nation’s capital will be chosen to stage the event as soon as 2027, according to four people familiar with the deliberations."

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D.C. and the DMV area would seemingly be a great fit for the draft, because hey, it is the nation's capital.

We have gotten news of where the draft will be held usually two years out from when the draft happens, so in all likelihood, we will know where the 2027 draft will be held come May of 2025.

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Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2024 season.

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