After two years in Chicago, following many in New York, the NFL will take the draft on the move yet again. One Pennsylvania politician claims it’s coming to Philadelphia.
Via Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Congressman Bob Brady said Thursday that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called to inform Brady that the City has secured the event for 2017.
The City says otherwise.
“I can’t speak for the Congressman, but I can tell you that the City has definitely not been awarded the draft,” Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told Ruderman.
Still, Brady provided the kind of details that suggest he’s not pulling the notion out of thin air or any specific orifices. He said, for example, that the Cirt will build a temporary stage and 3,000-seat arena on the Ben Franklin Parkway, with the Art Museum as the likely background. Brady also said that the City is committing $5 million to the effort.
The commitment, if accurate, proves yet again the power of Big Shield. Despite $13 billion in annual revenue, the NFL continues to persuade cities from sea to shining sea to cough up cash in order to bring to town the draft, the Super Bowl, and whatever other NFL-related events the league decides to take on the road.