Have you ever heard something and then once you processed it, you mentally slapped yourself and said, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Well, about 10 minutes before I typed the first word of this piece, I read in a sports post that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is not only trying to get the Windy City its own Super Bowl, but he wants to have the city host another event.
The NFL Draft.
*WHACK!* “Why didn’t I think of that?” I said to myself.
I’m stunned I didn’t think of this before. The Super Bowl is in neutral site, the Olympics are held in a neutral site, and various All-Star Games are held in neutral sites. Why can’t the NFL let alternating cities host the NFL Draft too? This is partly a sports issue. This is mainly an economic issue.
We all know money drives the world and when cities have prestigious events hosted in their event centers, it creates a high energy spark for the economy.
Hotels are filled up, restaurant tables are reserved, parking spaces and car rentals increase, gift shops sell more, local landmarks are visited and that’s just the beginning folks. Millions of dollars in revenue are at stake when major sporting events are concerned and it raises the major question.
Why should New York City automatically receive all the revenue from hosting the draft?
They’ve had it forever it seems like. Well, not forever…but exactly 50 years in a row. The last time the NFL Draft was held in a non-New York establishment was in 1964 in, coincidentally, Chicago.
Jack Kennedy was president. The Vietnam War was going on. The Super Bowl was still two years away from existing when that happened. Yeah, you’ve had a great run New York, but let’s share the wealth. Plus, not only is money at stake, but also a personal experience is at stake.
You gentlemen who are kind enough to read this article; do you have children? Do you cherish those first times like when your son took his first steps and when your daughter first said daddy and…when you first took your child to their absolute first sports game?
If the answers are yes, then why shouldn’t you have the opportunity to take your child; your family to the NFL Draft and make another first memory? With a rotating site for the NFL Draft, it is much more possible because I know that New York is farther away from me now than say, Chicago.
Or Cleveland. Or Denver. Or Los Angeles. Or Dallas.
There are dozens of major cities with seven-digit populations that should be allowed the opportunity to host the NFL Draft. The draft originally started in 1936 in Philadelphia. I know every Eagles fan from miles around would break open piggy banks to watch the draft in person.
And boo in person too if they felt like it.
Let’s be honest. The majority of America is on an oyster-tight budget.
People in San Francisco can’t just cough up the dough to go to New York as easy as a person on the East Coast and Bostonians still would have to take at least a road trip to get there.
There are millions of people who are discouraged from going to the Big Apple because of distance and New York’s expensive economy adding to travel costs. If the draft was held in Texas, I know I could go because I could drive there.
I’d be able to say to people, “Oh, I was there when the (insert team) drafted (insert name).” For the longest time, you have had to be in New York to create that memory. It’s time that changed and since Major Emanuel first spoke of it, I think it should start in Chicago.
What do you think?