2026 NFL Draft host city Pittsburgh readies for record crowds: 'Gonna be nuts'

USA TODAY Sports has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft . On Dec. 15, 1947, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the upcoming NFL draft for the 1948 season would be held in Pittsburgh, although the exact date was unclear.

The publication could only determine that representatives from 10 teams would gather sometime that week at the Fort Pitt Hotel, the de facto headquarters of the Pittsburgh Steelers . The 2026 draft, the first time the event has returned to Pittsburgh since, will be much more noticeable this time. “We had to really work with the NFL to kind of figure out ‘How do we build this draft into a very dense downtown?

’ … which is not easy to do,” president and CEO of Visit Pittsburgh Jerad Bachar told USA TODAY Sports by phone last week. For three days, not only will Pittsburgh be the confluence of three rivers, but a melting pot of NFL fandom. Indeed, the NFL’s takeover will dominate the north shore of the by the Steelers’ home, Acrisure Stadium.

The main entrance to the primary draft grounds is located about 200 yards away from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home stadium, PNC Park. Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman relocated this offseason to downtown Pittsburgh after being traded by the Indianapolis Colts. Every time he drives home, he said, another structure related to the draft has been built.