A “record number of people” attended the first day of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh on Thursday, with more than 320,000 turning out for the festivities. The previous record was set by Detroit in 2024, when more than 275,000 fans attended Day 1. The Draft Theater on the North Shore outside Acrisure Stadium “reached capacity around” 8:30pm ET, as fans “were told to head to the stadium to watch the first round of the draft.” The city said that it “expected 500,000 to 700,000 people to be in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Friday and Saturday” for the draft (CBSNEWS.com, 4/24). USA TODAY’s Nate Davis writes the whole draft setup “looked marvelous.” Expect that 320,000 attendance figure “to balloon -- significantly -- into the weekend” (USA TODAY, 4/24).
Lines “started forming outside Point State Park and around Acrisure Stadium not long after dawn.” By 9am ET, “crowds clustered in city streets that police had blocked off for pedestrians.” A “full eight hours before” any of the NFL’s 32 teams announced a single draft pick, “revelers already were reserving spots around the mammoth stage constructed on the eastern side of Acrisure Stadium” (TRIBLIVE, 4/23).
In Pittsburgh, Noah Hiles wrote the crowd’s reaction to the Steelers drafting Arizona State OT Max Iheanachor “was one I will never forget -- because hardly anyone among the Steelers faithful there had much to say.” The “moment we had all been waiting for was one that ultimately ended with silence, confusion and, for some, frustration” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/23).
