The NFL Draft was All Business

By Mark Harrison

If you were one of the 805,000 record-setting fans who attended the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh last weekend, you experienced much more than a sporting milestone.

Did you know this wasn't actually the first time the Draft was in Pittsburgh? In 1947, the NFL held the draft at the downtown Fort Pitt Hotel on December 19th, for the 1948 season, alongside a Steelers-Eagles playoff game. It was a marathon, a 32-round event with 300 total selections, and it was highly secretive, with some teams (including the Steelers) refusing to disclose their picks immediately.

Things have changed a wee bit.

On opening night, Pittsburgh set a new NFL Draft attendance record with 320,000 people present for Round 1 alone, indicating that the projections from VisitPITTSBURGH of 500,000 to 775,000 visitors would eventually be surpassed. That was music to the ears of the key funding partners, with a reported investment structure for the event that was multilayered: $1 million from Pittsburgh City Council, $3 million from Allegheny County, and $5 million from private-sector business sponsorships.

These funders anticipated and enjoyed a week of incredible events, including a fundraising event presented by PNC Bank at its own headquarters, The Tower at PNC Plaza, Taste of the Draft, which ran April 22, as the unofficial kickoff to Draft week, in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Steelers and VisitPITTSBURGH, and benefiting GENYOUth. Proceeds were directed to grants for 91 schools across the region as the event drew approximately 700 guests.

The restaurant lineup was the broadest representation of Pittsburgh's culinary range assembled under one roof for the event. Feature vendors included Ritual House with their infamous devilled eggs, Tina's Bar and Restaurant, The Common Plea, Talia, and Vallozzi's. The evening closed with a Pittsburgh tradition, a cookie table. Indeed!

Among the standout moments: Aunt Cheryl's Café owner Cheryl Johnson served Sweet Potato Pie made from a 100-year-old family recipe, calling it "4G -four generational pie." More than 25 Steelers players and NFL alums, including Doug Flutie, Will Howard, Jack Sawyer, and Vince Williams, appeared at food stations signing autographs, alongside a silent auction.

A pipeline of young talent was also woven into the event as local culinary high school students, brought in through the American Dairy Association Northeast and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's ProStart program, assisted the chefs throughout the evening.

On the business side, new league sponsors were announced, including Heinz "Mr. 57" as the NFL's First Global Condiment Partner. Kraft Heinz entered this five-year partnership with the NFL as the league's inaugural global condiment partner, covering brands Heinz, Kraft, Velveeta, Philadelphia cream cheese, and others, with a mandate to expand the company's Away From Home food service and retail business.

Heinz partnered with Devin Hester, himself the 57th pick of the 2006 NFL Draft and a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, to present the jacket and ceremonially welcome the first Mr. 57 on stage. A Three Rivers barge counted down each selection leading up to pick 57. The creative strategy, tightly built around this single number, provided Heinz a platform to create the "Mr. 57" tradition, named for the iconic "57 Varieties," on its ketchup bottle. Thereby designating the 57th overall pick as the recipient of a custom jacket, a lifetime supply of ketchup, and a future brand partnership.

The campaign, by Wieden+Kennedy New York, includes a nationwide Uber Eats digital campaign that offered $25 off orders from Heinz Verified restaurants that exclusively serve Heinz, launched in time with the announcement of the 57th pick. More than 150 billboards went up across Pittsburgh, from Pittsburgh International Airport to the perimeter of Acrisure Stadium. On the ground, the Taste of Pittsburgh activations (not to be confused with the fundraising dinner) presented by Heinz took place on the North Shore, featuring sauce stations, photo opportunities, and exclusive merchandise tied to the brand's hometown identity.

Local businesses' involvement in the week through the NFL's Draft Source program, which received several hundred applications from Pittsburgh-area businesses and accepted over 100. The local economic integration of the 2026 Draft was more structured than at most previous host cities. The program covered a wide range of industries beyond food and beverage, including linens, tenting, janitorial, floral, security, audio-visual, and transportation. The accepted businesses were profiled in a directory shared with NFL prime vendors and contractors at the event's conclusion and shared to the NFL's national supplier database, accessible to NFL staff, teams, sponsors, and partner organizations.

Several Draft Source companies became notable participants. Papelon Arepa Bar, a Venezuelan cuisine business co-founded by Armando Gonzalez and his brother Leonardo Peña, which started as a farmers market stand and grew into a Squirrel Hill storefront and food truck, was accepted into the program. Canonsburg Cake Co., owned by Lindsey Parks, was contracted to cater the Draft Source orientation workshop. Erin Ninehouser, an Ambridge-based documentary photographer, cleared her entire schedule after acceptance, noting that the connections available with producers who also work the World Cup and Super Bowl were transformative for any small business in the region.

On the fan-facing side at Point State Park, the Taste of Pittsburgh concession lineup at the NFL Draft Experience included The Roaming Bean (specialty lattes), P's Bird Wagon from Washington County, Patti's Pastries from Imperial, Secretos De Mis Abuelos from Homestead (Puerto Rican specialties), Remo's Catering from Babcock Boulevard, and Live Fresh Juicery. The sustainability footprint ran through each of these local operators, in partnership with 412 Food Rescue, surplus food from across the Draft was redirected to local nonprofits, aiming to deliver 50,000 meals to Pittsburgh residents in need. A Maker's Market ran adjacent to Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, April 25, featuring locally made goods from vendors across Western Pennsylvania.

Kim Fox, a Pittsburgh-based mixed-metal artist, was commissioned to create 32 handcrafted pieces, one per NFL team, displayed along the Player Walkway, the path each prospect walked on the way to the Main Stage. Fox combines reclaimed wood, vintage maps, collected tins, and found materials, assembling them in a quiltlike pattern. Each piece represented a different city and club, the result of several months of work.

The NFL built the most ambitious local art integration in recent Draft history, and it was anchored in Pittsburgh institutions.

The NFL partnered with The Andy Warhol Museum and its Youth Workforce Program to bring a live Pop Art studio to the NFL Draft Red Carpet presented by Toyota, where prospects co-created silkscreen self-portraits on hand-painted backgrounds, applying Warhol's own technique in his hometown.

Burton Morris, a Pittsburgh native and pop artist, built a 32-piece installation for the Prospect Green Room, constructed on a steel frame to honour the city's industrial identity. Each 20x20" panel featured his signature energy lines in team colours with an authentic helmet affixed to the front, creating a 3D mixed-media experience for every prospect entering the room.

Nightly from April 23–25, a large-scale light projection covered the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh, powered by 24 laser projectors delivering 768,000 lumens across 41,000 square feet of projection surface, running 8 to 11 p.m. each night. Fanatics extended the local art programming by commissioning Pittsburgh artist Jeremy Raymer to produce one-of-one original pieces on-site throughout the weekend, tied to the brand's Bridge to Greatness collection. The show highlighted top prospects, the Steelers' six Super Bowl championships, and real-time pick announcements.

U.S. Steel, marking its 125th anniversary, sponsored the NFL Films documentary "Football Town," narrated by Pittsburgh-area native Pat McAfee and presented in an immersive large-screen format at the Rangos Giant Cinema at the Kamin Science Center, a first-of-its-kind immersive documentary format for NFL Films.

The first product under another new deal, 2025 Topps Chrome Football, was released on April 15 and included one-of-one Rookie PREMIERE Patch Autograph cards and NFL Honours Gold Shield Autograph cards. This Draft served as the commercial launch of a major industry restructuring for the trading card business: the NFL, the NFLPA, and Fanatics Collectibles announced a multi-year licensing deal that restores Topps as the official, exclusive NFL and NFLPA trading card partner, marking Topps' first licensed football cards since 2016. Panini's prior NFL license had expired March 31, 2026.

The Topps activation included live pack openings, free pack giveaways, live programming with athletes and hobby personalities, and a hobby shop marketplace with eight shops from around the country, each assigned to an NFL division: Neighborhood Card Shop (NFC West), Wheelhouse (NFC East), Real Sportscards (NFC North), Indy Card Exchange (AFC South), Dave & Adams Card World (AFC East), Steel City Collectibles (AFC North), and CardVault (AFC West). Topps executed a three-day Collector Destination at the Draft, free to attend, running April 23–25 inside Acrisure Stadium.

For Collector Celebration Day on Saturday, April 25, an exclusive value box of 2025 Topps Chrome Football was available to the first 1,000 fans through the gates at Acrisure Stadium. These autographed cards were random features in collector orders placed directly through Fanatics by April 26. The signature innovation was the Topps Now live autograph moment: a photographer stationed at the Draft stage photographed each prospect with Commissioner Goodell immediately after the selection. Within 90 seconds, the card was printed on-site and handed to the player to sign live with a "My 1st NFL Auto" inscription.

Steelers legends James Harrison and Joey Porter Sr. participated in Collector Celebration Day on the field.

For those who wanted swag, there were plenty of opportunities, such as designer John Geiger collaborating with Fanatics and New Era on Draft-exclusive product.

On the retail side, Fanatics and the NFL announced an exclusive multi-year deal, making Fanatics the official on-site retail partner for all NFL marquee events, including the Super Bowl. The flagship presence at the Draft was a 13,000-square-foot NFL Shop tent with more than 250 products, plus over 10 additional retail locations across the North Shore and Point State Park featuring Nike, New Era, Mitchell & Ness, Topps, '47, Homage, Yeti, and more. Pittsburgh-specific collections included a Mac Miller tribute line from Mitchell & Ness, featuring jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies, and hats honouring the late Pittsburgh hip-hop icon, and Homage's tributes to Primanti Brothers and Mr. Rogers.

The best-selling item on Day 1 was a soft gold T-shirt featuring Pittsburgh's Sister Bridges and the Mr. Rogers phrase "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." (I bought one!)

Of course, my purpose in being in Pittsburgh was to host the SponsorshipX ROI Forum, which ran April 21–23 at the Historic Distillery Complex. One hundred and twenty delegates got to hear firsthand from NFL and NFLP leaders, along with league partners Toyota, AWS, Microsoft, Nationwide, and FanDuel, about how they generate ROI through their sponsorships.

A fitting jewel in the crown that Pittsburgh crafted for Draft 2026.