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NFL Insider: 'Strong Sense' Pittsburgh Will Be Awarded 2026 NFL Draft
The city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be moving closer to hosting the 2026 NFL Draft.
According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones, there is a “strong sense” from the league meetings in Nashville this week that the Steelers and the city will be awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, with an official announcement expected soon.
At the NFL league meetings here in Nashville, there’s a strong sense that Pittsburgh will be awarded the 2026 NFL draft, sources tell @NFLonCBS. Announcement later today is possible.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) May 22, 2024
Pittsburgh officially submitted its bid to host either the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft back in February, and in late April it was reported by WTAE’s Andrew Stockey that the Steelers were on the short list to host the draft in 2026 or 2027.
Team president and owner Art Rooney II stated during a Q&A session last week at Acrisure Stadium during a community event that things were looking good regarding the bid to host the draft, and that the team was expecting to hear at some point this week.
Now, that announcement appears to be on the horizon, with some potentially great news for not only the city, but the franchise as well.
Back in February, Pittsburgh officially announced its bid to host the draft, releasing a hype video in the process to make clear their interest in hosting the draft. The official bid to host the draft came after rumors of the city being a future destination started up last fall as NFL personnel reportedly were scouting locations to possibly hold the event in Pittsburgh.
The bid is in!
We have officially submitted Pittsburgh’s NFL Draft Bid to host the event in 2026 or 2027.@vstpgh | @Innamo | @gainey_ed pic.twitter.com/cWY8VppX0j
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 16, 2024
Then, shortly after the 2023 season concluded, Rooney started to make his public push for the city to host the draft, confirming the team’s interest, which is what the Steelers have had as a goal since the NFL began shopping locations after holding the draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
During the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, which saw more than 775,000 fans attend the three-day event in the Motor City, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hinted that Pittsburgh could be coming soon as a host city for the NFL Draft in either 2026 or 2027.
“They’re in the mix,” Goodell said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “I’ll tell you that. So that may be coming soon.”
Soon appears to have arrived. We’ll see if an official announcement is made today from Nashville.
If Pittsburgh is awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, it would have quite the economic impact on the city. According to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who spoke with WPXI’s Jenna Harner late last week, the draft coming to Pittsburgh would have an economic impact between $100-$150 million.
“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,” Fitzgerald said to Harner, according to WPXI.com. “And that’s I think being actually somewhat conservative.”
Fitzgerald might be a bit conservative there, especially with the impact the draft had on Detroit, bringing in an estimated $165 million over the three-day draft.
Rooney stated that having the draft in Pittsburgh would be the biggest visitor event in the city’s history.
“I think it’d probably be the biggest visitor event in the history of the city,” Rooney said in February to WTAE’s Andrew Stockey. “And so it’s very exciting. We think where Pittsburgh is located, not only will we have thousands of Steeler fans, but would have thousands of fans from all of the NFL cities that are, you know, let’s say within a 500-mile radius of Pittsburgh. So, I think it would be, number one, a huge visitor event for the city.”
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Steelers Safeties Against Regular Season Expansion
PITTSBURGH — Don’t ask the Pittsburgh Steelers about adding an 18th game to the NFL’s regular season. You’ll only get a mixed bag of responses. Some couldn’t care less, some are for it, and some are vehemently against it.
Steelers safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott are firmly in the “against it” category. Speaking to Brooke Pryor of ESPN, both players were unabashed in their thoughts on adding another game.
“They’re not paying us enough money already,” Elliott said. “They’re stingy with their money, so they want to make us play 18 games, as a player union, we should get way more money than what we’re getting — and not just the top guys. ”
Elliott continued his rant by expressing disappointment in the league’s greed. In his view, the owners have no risk but gain all of the reward.
“And the thing is, they’re not out here playing football,” he said. “They’re not here running around putting their bodies on the line. They don’t care. All they care about is making money, but if you’re going to make money on the top end, the bottom end has to make money too.”
Fitzpatrick was in full agreement with his fellow safety. The leader of the Steelers’ secondary is not a fan of more games in the regular season. He doesn’t understand the point of changing or why they would remove a preseason game to do that.
“Why do we keep adding games?” Fitzpatrick said. “I think 17 is more than enough, plus a playoff…The dudes that play a hundred percent of the snaps in the regular season are probably barely playing in the (removed) preseason game, so it doesn’t really do too much.”
The views of the team’s safeties are likely felt across the league. ESPN surveyed NFL players about this issue to gauge the temperature. 46% of the respondents voted in favor of an additional regular season game to the schedule. 8% voted yes, but required some stipulations, and 19% voted against it. Pryor also noted that multiple concerns from players were raised during the survey, but 27% felt they didn’t have a concrete response.
The other main issue to figure out is the revenue split. With the current 17-game schedule, players receive a revenue share of just under 49%. The current collective bargaining agreement is in place until 2030, so a concrete decision will likely wait until the next CBA negotiations. Until then, the Steelers safety duo is unlikely to change their opinions on this matter.
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Aerosmith ‘Peace Out’ tour with Teddy Swims in Pittsburgh: Where to buy tickets for under $100
Aerosmith’s rescheduled “Peace Out” farewell tour resumes in Pa. in September.
The first concert on the iconic rock band’s tour is Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
While The Black Crowes are the opening act for the tour, on Sept. 20 the opening act will be Teddy Swims who said on Instagram that it will be “a dream come true.” Swims said also said on Instagram that his headlining, “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy” tour is sold out.
The “Peace Out” tour also includes a stop on Sept. 23 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Fans can buy tickets here (prices are as of the time of this post):
Sept. 20, Pittsburgh
- Stubhub, prices start at $63
- SeatGeek, prices start at $61
- Vivid Seats, prices start at $65
Sept. 23, Philadelphia
- Stubhub, prices start at $80
- SeatGeek, prices start at $76
- Vivid Seats, prices start at $82
Aerosmith had postponed the original “Peace Out” farewell tour after Steven Tyler, 76, said he had vocal chord damage in September 2023. Tyler needed time to recover. All previously purchased tickets for postponed shows will be honored, the band said. Aerosmith did perform on Sept. 2, 2023, in Philadelphia. In late September, the tour was postponed.
The tour runs through February 2025 with the last two shows being on Feb. 23, 2025, at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Feb. 26 in Buffalo, New York.
Sept. 26 – Louisville, Kentucky
Sept. 29 – Cleveland, Ohio
Oct. 2 – Charlotte, North Carolina
Oct. 5 – Knoxville, Tennessee
Oct. 8 – Washington, D.C.
Oct. 11 – Atlanta, Georgia
Oct. 14 – St. Louis, Missouri
Oct. 17 – Cincinnati, Ohio
Oct. 20 – Nashville, Tennessee
Oct. 31 – Phoenix, Arizona
Nov. 3 – San Antonio, Texas
Nov. 6 – Austin, Texas
Nov. 9 – Dallas, Texas
Nov. 12 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
Nov. 15 – Omaha, Nebraska
Nov. 18 – Denver, Colorado
Nov. 21 – Portland, Oregon
Nov. 24 – Seattle, Washington
Nov. 27 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Nov. 30 – San Francisco, California
Dec. 4 – San Jose, California
Dec. 7 – Los Angeles, California
Dec. 28 – Newark, New Jersey
Dec. 31 – Boston, Massachusetts
Jan. 4, 2025 – Detroit, Michigan
Jan. 7, 2025 – Toronto, Canada
Jan. 10, 2025 – Montreal, Canada
Jan. 13, 2025 – Columbus, Ohio
Jan. 16, 2025 – Indianapolis, Indiana
Jan. 19, 2025 – Chicago, Illinois
Jan. 22, 2025 – St. Paul, Minnesota
Jan. 25, 2025 – Kansas City, Missouri
Feb. 11, 2025 – Orlando, Florida
Feb. 14, 2025 – Tampa, Florida
Feb. 17, 2025 – Sunrise, Florida
Feb. 20, 2025 – Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb. 23, 2025 – New York, New York
Feb. 26, 2025 – Buffalo, New York
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