Pittsburg, PA
Report: Detroit Received $213 Million NFL Draft Windfall As Pittsburgh Prepares For 2026
One of the best decisions the NFL has made over the last several years was taking the annual NFL Draft on the road. It was hosted in New York City from 1965 to 2014 before a two-year stint in Chicago. Since then, they have moved from city to city, drawing huge in-person audiences. Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL Draft and broke the attendance records for the event with 775,000 fans over three days.
Visit Detroit and the Detroit Sports Commission issued a report that added up the city’s total revenue, which came in at a whopping $213 million, per WILX News.
The NFL announced in late May that Pittsburgh was awarded the 2026 draft, so seeing the type of economic impact Detroit achieved is pretty exciting for the city. The initial estimate just days after the event in Detroit was $165 million, and even those lofty calculations were surpassed by nearly 30 percent.
It is the sum of all the hotel bookings, food and merch sales, vendors supporting the event, sales tax revenue, and everything else that comes with an influx of nearly a million people in a city’s downtown area.
When the event was hosted in tier-one cities like Chicago and New York City, it would draw crowds of 200,000 or so. The move to tier 2 and 3 cities in smaller markets with more dedicated sports fan bases has caused a boom in attendance. Three of the most-attended drafts were Nashville (692,000 population), Las Vegas (656,000), and Detroit (620,000).
That trend of success in smaller cities will be put to the test in Green Bay in 2025, with a population of 106,000. They have a rich football history in that region, but it is also pretty far out of the way of population centers in the country. Their success could be a good sign for Pittsburgh, which has a population of 303,000.
The NFL repeatedly cited Pittsburgh’s geographic proximity to other major sports and football markets as a reason for choosing the city. The turnout could be even higher than the 350,000 attendance estimate that Pittsburgh officials gave to WPXI’s Jenna Harner in May, shortly after the announcement.
“We’re estimating there’ll be over 300 to 350,000 visitors that would come to Pittsburgh, putting an economic impact anywhere from 100 million to $150 million,” Allegheny County Exec Rich Fitzgerald told Harner. “And that’s, I think, being actually somewhat conservative.”
Pittsburgh hosting the draft will be a massive cultural event for the city. It will also bring a large economic boost to local businesses and provide tax revenue to help fund improvements for the city.
Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport.
Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations.
Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.
According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.
KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store.
Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street. The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.
The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.
At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street.
Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on. The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.
Vegas allowed two power-play goals on Pittsburgh’s four chances after giving up one on 12 opportunities the previous four games.
“I think we just had poor execution all game long,” Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. “Obviously, our penalty kill has been pretty good for us and that wasn’t good enough tonight.”
Rickard Rakell pushed it to 4-0 on another power play at 15:06, stopping a shot from Karlsson with his left skate and wrapping a shot around Hill.
Brazeau scored on a wrist shot from above the right circle at 14:59 of the third period for the 5-0 final.
“Second period, they took it to us,” McNabb said. “We were out of it, basically.”
NOTES: With goals from Kindel, Chinakhov and Brazeau, the Penguins have 73 goals by players in their first season with the team. It’s the most in the NHL this season and 13 more than the next closest (the Anaheim Ducks, 59). … The Golden Knights have been outscored 9-1 in the first and second periods of their first three games out of the break for the Olympics. … Karlsson has 908 points (204 goals, 704 assists), tied with Scott Stevens (908 points; 196 goals, 712 assists) for the 13th-most by a defenseman in League history. … Vegas forward Mitch Marner had a point streak end at six games (seven points; four goals, three assists).
Vegas Golden Knights (28-17-14, in the Pacific Division) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (30-15-13, in the Metropolitan Division)
Pittsburgh; Sunday, 1 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Golden Knights -149, Penguins +125; over/under is 6.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vegas Golden Knights square off in a non-conference matchup.
Pittsburgh has a 14-8-7 record at home and a 30-15-13 record overall. The Penguins have scored 197 total goals (3.4 per game) to rank 10th in NHL play.
Vegas is 28-17-14 overall and 14-9-7 in road games. The Golden Knights are 27-6-8 in games they score at least three goals.
Sunday’s game is the first meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Anthony Mantha has 21 goals and 23 assists for the Penguins. Benjamin Kindel has six goals and one assist over the last 10 games.
Mark Stone has 21 goals and 38 assists for the Golden Knights. Pavel Dorofeyev has seven goals and three assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Penguins: 7-1-2, averaging 4.2 goals, 7.1 assists, 3.3 penalties and 6.9 penalty minutes while giving up 2.5 goals per game.
Golden Knights: 4-4-2, averaging 3.5 goals, 5.8 assists, 2.6 penalties and 5.8 penalty minutes while giving up 3.3 goals per game.
INJURIES: Penguins: None listed.
Golden Knights: None listed.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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