I went to the NFL draft Saturday with my son and brother and his boy.
There were tons of people from out of town wowed by the city. " Chicago is so beautiful I never knew it." "Look at the view of the Lake !!!" ect all heard from the many first time out of towners.
The draft experience was a good time really and heavily attended at least the day I went. Plus the weather was just about perfect that day. I certainly hope Chicago can continue to host the Draft. Its 3 days of national showing the city exposure viewed by millions. Most all of the broadcasts were outdoors and lots of skyline backdrops vs the inside of theater of NYC that has held them for decades.
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/n....html?page=all
NFL Draft —judged by attendance numbers — was certainly not lacking
May 4, 2015, 1:53pm CDT Updated: May 4, 2015, 2:34pm CDT
The hype was unending.
But when it all finally did end Saturday night, the 2015 NFL Draft — unfolding in Chicago for the first time in more than 50 years — had attracted an estimated
total 200,000 visitors to both the Draft Town fan festival sprawled across Grant Park and to the NFL Draft ritual itself across the street inside the relatively more intimate Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
NFL executives did not break down the size of the crowd that congregated at each location. But undoubtedly the much larger majority of the total attendance was mixing and mingling in Draft Town, which covered an expanse equal to several football fields.
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Chicago's deal to host the event was for one year only. But with Chicago Mayer Rahm Emanuel, —who took a large part of the credit for luring the Draft to Chicago — back in office, it's likely he will push hard to get it back in the Windy City as early as next year