NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday evening during a fireside chat hosted by Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper that he believes Charlotte would lend itself to hosting an NFL draft, and he did not dismiss the idea of the city getting a Super Bowl at some point in the future.NFL OWNERS UNANIMOUSLY VOTE TO BRING SUPER BOWL LXIV TO NASHVILLE'S NEW $2 BILLION STADIUM IN 2030NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media during the Super Bowl Winning Team Head Coach and MVP Press Conference at the Mandalay Bay North Convention Center on Feb.12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)"...You see the way the downtown's evolving..." Goodell told an audience of Panthers and local dignitaries gathered to celebrate the renewed naming right for Bank of America Stadium and the facility's renovation."The first [thing] came into my mind: I said to David, 'This is built for a draft.'"It's the location of Charlotte in general.
And I think the way the draft is now, it's close to a million people attended.And they're coming from all over, including internationally.
And it's become a global event that I think would be a terrific thing here in this town, with everything that's being built."The NFL draft is is spoken for over the next two years.Washington D.C.
will hold the event in 2027 and Minneapolis has the event for 2028.So if Charlotte is going to compete for the event, the 2029 draft would be the first realistic target.The draft has been steadily growing as a fan event since the NFL cast aside the indoor versions, which used to be held in a New York City hotel or Radio City Music Hall.
The 2017 draft in Philadelphia was the first held outdoors and it had 205,000 in attendance.That number is dwarfed by this year's event in Pittsburgh that set a new record with 805,000 people in attendance.A general view of the Seattle Seahawks versus the New England Patriots defense during Super Bowl LX game on Feb.8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Cal...