D.C.’s bid to host the 2027 NFL draft envisions staging a significant portion of the three-day event on the National Mall, according to planning documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post.
Washington, D.C
Could the 2027 NFL draft be coming to the National Mall?
Representatives from Events DC — the convention and sports authority for the District — and the NPS, which administers the National Mall and monuments, have been in discussion with NFL executives for months about the possibility of holding the three-day event in the District, the emails show.
In an April message to NPS executives and Beverly Perry, a senior adviser to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), NFL Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs Brendon Plack confirmed that D.C. “made a bid for a big NFL tentpole event in 2027” and that “ideally” the NFL would like to hold the event on the National Mall.
The NFL, the Washington Commanders and Bowser’s office declined to comment on Washington’s effort. Events DC and the National Park Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The league, according to the emails, has proposed having the main stage for the draft on 4th Street between Madison and Jefferson Drives, near the National Gallery and the National Air and Space Museum. A portion could also be held on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, where attendees could flow to the Mall.
“As you can imagine this [is] very important to [the] District, and they are trying to put forth a winning bid proposal,” Marisa Richardson, an official in the NPS’s division of permits management, wrote to fellow NPS officials in January. “And we want to be good partners, but also realistic regarding our limitations.”
Local officials essentially revived their draft proposals from years earlier to relaunch conversations with the NFL before meeting with a delegation from the league in D.C. in mid-October.
The District had previously explored trying to host the 2024 draft, which ultimately was awarded to Detroit. Some of those connected to Washington’s latest effort have speculated that D.C. probably would have landed an earlier NFL draft if not for the controversies that surrounded former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder.
Detroit hosted a record 775,000 fans over the three-day event in April. D.C. was among 12 cities with representatives at that draft to conduct site surveys, a person with knowledge of the matter has said.
Since the emails and documents recently obtained came through NPS, much of the correspondence centered on the Mall policies and the unique challenges of hosting a major commercial event on national parkland.
The NPS has informed the NFL that it supports Events DC’s bid for the draft, so long as the portions that are proposed to take place on the Mall adhere to federal regulations for park areas administered by the National Capital Region.
“Special events” on the Mall and other park areas must meet numerous restrictions on commercialization and sponsor recognition, as well as strict guidelines to protect the turf. For example, merchandise sales are prohibited, and logos of draft sponsors would have to be no larger than a third the size of the NFL draft logos. Alcohol, while generally prohibited on the Mall, may be allowed but only in an area designated by the NPS. There are rules for concessions; weight and height restrictions for temporary structures; and even time limits on structures that block light for the turf.
Then there’s the issue of commitment.
The NFL typically likes to decide draft host cities at least a couple years in advance. It announced last year that Green Bay, Wisc., will host the 2025 draft and it announced in May that Pittsburgh will host the 2026 event. The league, according to emails between NPS officials, purportedly hoped to get a guarantee for an approved permit on the Mall for 2027, but the agency does not accept permit applications for special events more than a year out.
“In case you don’t know, the Mall came under fire in 2003 because of the [Britney] Spears/NFL concert to kick off the season,” Jeffrey Reinbold, the superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks for NPS, wrote in one email to Kym Hall, the NPS’s National Capital Area director. “The commercialization was over the top and the event resulted in new limitations on commercialization on the Mall.”
It’s not clear when the NFL will award the 2027 draft. Team owners meet on a quarterly basis. But the selection process could last until next May, if the NFL follows the timetable by which it awarded the 2026 draft.
Denver and Charlotte have been cited as particularly strong candidates to host a future draft, but those familiar with the league’s process say there are many cities eager to win the bidding for one. They describe the competition between cities attempting to host a future NFL draft as intense, and there are no assurances that Washington’s effort will be successful.
Should D.C. land the 2027 draft, it would provide the strongest sign yet of the Commanders’ improved reputation under new owner Josh Harris, who purchased the team from Snyder last year for a record $6.05 billion.
Days after Harris closed the deal to buy the team, Bowser announced the creation of a sports team within the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to support pro and recreational sports teams, and to work with D.C. agencies to attract sporting events to the District.
For more than four decades, the NFL held the draft in various locations in New York before moving it to Chicago in 2015 and 2016. Since then, the event has moved to different NFL cities annually. It was held in Philadelphia in 2017; Arlington, Tex., in 2018; Nashville in 2019; Cleveland in 2021; Las Vegas in 2022; and Kansas City, Mo., in 2023. The 2020 NFL draft was conducted remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to move the draft from New York initially was made due to a scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall. But it has worked in the NFL’s favor, given the support and enthusiasm the event has generated in different cities.
The broadcasts of the opening round of the draft in Detroit this year averaged 12.1 million viewers — more than any World Series or Stanley Cup Finals game last year and more than all but one NBA Finals game and all but one college football regular season game last year.
Washington, D.C
What’s that noise? What you need to know about D.C. flyovers Friday and Saturday – WTOP News
Reagan National Airport will close for America 250 flyover rehearsals Friday and celebrations Saturday featuring the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels and more.
Reagan National Airport will close from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday for rehearsals ahead of this weekend’s America 250 celebrations, meaning people around D.C., Arlington and Alexandria may hear and see low-flying military aircraft.
According to Freedom 250 event organizers, Friday’s “Wings of Freedom” demonstrations over the National Mall will feature parachute teams, helicopters and military aircraft, including the U.S. Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey and F-35B, the Navy’s F-18F and F-35C, the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, the Thunderbirds and a tri-bomber formation.
On Saturday, the FAA will close the airport from noon to midnight for the full celebration. All arrivals and departures at Reagan National are scheduled to end before noon.
Flyovers and demonstrations are scheduled throughout the afternoon and evening along the National Mall and Washington Monument grounds, including appearances by Air Force One, the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, military aircraft fleet reviews, parachute demonstrations and B-2 stealth bombers.
Highlights include an Air Force One flyover scheduled for 7:03 p.m., a Thunderbirds demonstration beginning at 6:25 p.m., a tri-bomber formation at 6:02 p.m. and a stealth aircraft flyover at 7:38 p.m.
Friday’s schedule of flyovers and demonstration rehearsals along the National Mall and Washington Monument
- 10 a.m.: Golden Knights, Leap Frogs
- 10:15 a.m.: Army Helo Flyover
- 10:20 a.m.: USMC V-22 Osprey Demo
- 10:35 a.m.: USMC F-35B STOVL Demo
- 10:50 a.m.: USN F-18F Demo
- 11:10 a.m.: USN F-35C Demo Team
- 11:30 a.m.: USAF F-22 Raptor Demo
- 11:50 a.m.: NASA F-5s
- 12 p.m.: HUGE (1) Formation
- 12:05 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds
- 12:55 p.m.: USAF Tri-Bomber
Saturday’s schedule of flyovers and demonstration along the National Mall and Washington Monument
- 1:14 p.m.: – NASA F-5 Flyover
- 1:24 p.m.: -NASA Fleet Review
- 1:44 p.m.: USCG Helo Flyover
- 1:54 p.m.: USCG Fixed Wing Flyover
- 2:09 p.m.: Golden Knights, Leap Frogs
- 2:29 p.m.: Army Helo Flyover
- 2:44 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Heavies
- 2:54 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 2 – AFSOC
- 3:04 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 3 – Fighters
- 3:29 p.m.: Executive Rotary Wing Airlift
- 3:39 p.m.: USMC Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Rotary
- 3:49 p.m.: USMC Fleet Review – Wave 2 – Fixed Wing
- 3:59 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Rotary
- 4:09 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 2 – Fixed Wing
- 4:19 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 3 – Fighters
- 4:21 p.m.: USN F-18F Demonstration
- 4:59 p.m.: USN Blue Angels
- 5:26 p.m.: USMC MV-22 Osprey Demonstration
- 5:44 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Fighters
- 6:02 p.m.: USAF Tri-Bomber Formation
- 6:05 p.m.: USN F-35C Demonstration
- 6:25 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration
- 7:03 p.m.: Air Force One Flyover
- 7:07 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds Delta Break
- 7:17 p.m.: HUGE 1 Flyover Led by the Newly Renovated Air Force One
- 7:38 p.m.: U.S. Stealth Airpower Flyover
- 7:39 p.m.: F-22 Raptor Demo
- 7:53 p.m.: F-22 Raptor in Afterburner
- 7:59 p.m.: B-1 Flyover
- 8:07 p.m.: B-1’s in Afterburner
- 8:11 p.m.: HUGE ONE Fly Over Review
- 8:22 p.m.: Golden Knights Twilight Jump
- 10:36 p.m.: B-1 Afterburner Night Pass
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An Air Force major was arrested in uniform on the steps of the Capitol after he called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
U.S. Capitol Police arrested Jason Watson, an active-duty service member, on Wednesday afternoon following remarks at a news conference where he said Trump and Vice President JD Vance should be removed from office.
The event was organized by the Removal Coalition, a group that lobbies members of Congress to impeach Trump, and attended by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who has repeatedly introduced articles of impeachment against Trump.
“I’m here with him because Rep. Green is the only member of Congress that has demonstrated the courage and conviction to … force a vote on articles of impeachment,” Watson said at the event. “If Congress followed his example, we could remove the entire Trump administration, but Congress remains unconvinced of the urgency and necessity for them to honor their oaths, so we must persuade them with our unrelenting, uncompromising civil resistance.”
Watson said he is not a Democrat and does not share policy positions with Green, who lost his re-election bid this year. Green’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Watson’s arrest.
Capitol Police said in a statement that it “is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House Steps unless they are with a Member of Congress.”
“Yesterday afternoon, a man was escorted to the House Steps by a Member of Congress,” the statement said. “When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration or he would be arrested. The man refused our lawful orders.”
Capitol Police identified the man as Watson, adding that he was arrested on charges of “Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding” and that it is legal to protest in other spots on the Capitol grounds.
Service members are subject to stricter laws than the average citizen when it comes to protesting. The Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits officers from “using contemptuous language towards the President, Vice president, the Secretaries of War and of a military department, Congress, and certain other officials,” according to an Air Force memo last year.
An Air Force spokesperson said in a statement Thursday: “Service members must comply with all laws, regulations and policies governing conduct and the wear of the uniform. All Department of the Air Force personnel are expected to uphold the highest standards of discipline and professionalism, both on and off duty.”
All service members, not just members of the Air Force, are prohibited from participating in “political activities” in uniform.
Watson’s criticism of Trump and Vance focused on the administration’s actions in Venezuela and Iran, calling them “an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’ authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause.”
“These violations resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries of hundreds more,” he said, referring to the number of U.S. military deaths tied to the Iran war. “For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted and removed.”
Watson also called the administration’s immigration policies and tactics unconstitutional.
The Removal Coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Watson could not be reached.
President Donald Trump responded to criticism of a financial disclosure that listed $1.4 billion in crypto earnings largely driven by meme coins.
Berk Kutay Gökmen
02 July 2026•Update: 02 July 2026
US Defense Secretary Hegseth on Thursday faced protesters while hosting the Trump administration’s DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force ceremony in Washington DC.
During the ceremony at Meridian Hill Park, which saw the gathering of National Guardsmen, dozens of demonstrators gathered near the park to protest Hegseth.
Footage shows the demonstrators chanting a short distance away from where Hegseth and roughly 200 members of the National Guard had gathered in the park
In social media posts, one protester was seen holding a Palestinian flag, while another person was holding a sign that reads “arrest Hegseth.” The protesters want a “Free DC,” according to social media posts.
In his address to the National Guard, Hegseth said that “this background noise is perfect,” referring to the protests.
“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude—of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them,” he said.
Meridian Hill Park was repaired by the National Park Service and the Interior Department as part of a larger initiative to restore and enhance federal parks and public spaces throughout the nation’s capital in preparation for America’s 250th anniversary, which falls on this Saturday, July 4.
Though such beautification projects are typically popular with the public, the current initiative has been controversial both for its choice of projects and the use of no-bid contracts to hire firms to do the work, sometimes with disappointing results.
The work aligns with President Donald Trump’s DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, established by a March 2025 executive order that directs federal agencies to coordinate public safety and beautification efforts across Washington.
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