Country music singer Tim McGraw performs after the completion of the second day of the NFL draft Friday in Nashville.
Country music singer Tim McGraw, right, hugs NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before the second round of the draft on Friday night in Nashville.
Spectators crowd onto the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge Friday during the NFL draft in downtown Nashville.NASHVILLE – Grading any NFL draft can be challenging, and snap judgments after the last pick usually are far too positive.
Yes, Music City couldn’t keep the rain away from downtown this past Thursday, opening night of the league’s extravaganza of optimism. Still, closing off both the honky-tonk district on Broadway and putting out the welcome mat at the Tennessee Titans’ stadium a short walk over the Cumberland River allowed Nashville to turn this year’s NFL draft into a three-day football and music festival that drew rave reviews.
“To this point, hard not to give Nashville an A-plus for this draft,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events.
Philadelphia drew a record 250,000 fans over three days for the 2017 draft, and the NFL also has taken this annual event to Chicago (twice) and the Dallas area since deciding to leave Radio Music City Hall and its longtime host city, New York, after 2014. Nashville, which first offered up a 55,000-square foot ballroom back in 2011 for the annual draft, simply smashed that attendance mark with some 600,000 spectators over three days.
“It’s a testament to Titans fans, to NFL fans globally who’ve just embraced this draft concept and it’s a testament to Nashville,” O’Reilly said.