Is the NFL Draft or a Super Bowl better for Pittsburgh?

IS THE NFL DRAFT coming to Pittsburgh in 2026 really that big a deal?

From a financial perspective, it definitely could be. It seems unlikely Pittsburgh will see a Super Bowl on the North Shore anytime soon.

The February weather in Southwestern Pennsylvania is too changeable for 120 million eyes to turn toward an open-air stadium along the Ohio River. The NFL has skewed toward warmer climes in recent years — Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida. That pattern has been broken only once, with Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

But the NFL has worked to become a dominant force for more than just one Sunday in the coldest part of winter. It has expanded the number of teams. It has expanded the number of games. It has played games on other continents.

What once was a system of picking new players little different from a grade school gym class has become weeks of work and multiple events. The NFL Draft is like the Oscars — if the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences took days to announce choices with round-the-clock coverage.

And that, as with most NFL-related things, means money. In 2023, the draft happened in Kansas City. The economic impact was $164 million. The final financial numbers from this year’s draft in Detroit are anticipated to be as high as $175 million to $200 million.

It is a game of numbers in two ways. First, the NFL rolls around in an almost comical amount of money. Estimates range from $12 billion to $18 billion annually. Commissioner Roger Goodell has a goal of $25 billion by 2027, and little appears to stand in his way.

But then there is the number of people. A record-setting 775,000 people attended the Detroit draft in April over the course of three days.

As with so much in the NFL these days, you can look to Taylor Swift for comparison. Her 2023 concerts in Pittsburgh shattered attendance records and brought 73,117 people to Acrisure Stadium. They generated $46 million for the local economy.

This is an opportunity for the publicly owned stadium to give a huge return on the city and county investment.

There have been other major events, of course. There were the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey games in 2011 and 2017. The college football Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia in 2022 brought in more than 70,000 fans.

However, the draft is about a broader audience. It can bring in fans from across the country. The visuals can make the days of coverage a nationwide commercial for Pittsburgh. That kind of advertising is priceless.

Is it as good for the Steelers as bringing home another championship trophy? Maybe not. But for the Pittsburgh bottom line, it might be better