KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The buildup to the 2023 NFL Draft is in its final stages and images of what’s to come at one of the biggest sports celebrations in Kansas City’s history are coming into focus.
Construction around and inside Union Station, where most draft activities will take place during the April 27-29 event, continued Tuesday with a cover that will hang over the main stage and video panels filling the windows.
The LINK skywalk connecting the Westin Crown Center and Union Station is getting draped in NFL decor. NFL Draft merchandise is beginning to hit area stores.
Kansas City will be the seventh city to host the NFL Draft since it moved out of its former home base in New York City.
Draft announcements — including the opening night’s first-round selections, wherein league commissioner Roger Goodell typically presents ball caps and hugs — will take place on a stage outside Union Station.
Unless it rains. In that case, the operation will move inside Union Station. Two more rounds will be conducted Friday (April 28) and four will take place Saturday (April 29).
Across Pershing Street, on both sides of the National WWI Museum and Liberty Memorial, large spaces will be set aside for fans — one side reserved for the draft’s accompanying fan-fest and the other for viewing the actual draft.
“This site is fantastic,” said Katie Keenan, the NFL’s senior director of live events. “We have Union Station and this beautiful natural amphitheater here on the north lawn. It’s really a great site.”
Concerts are planned for the Union Station stage all three nights of the draft, with acts to be announced sometime this week.
Most typical Union Station attractions and activities will be shuttered or tabled at some point next week. Harvey’s Restaurant and Whistle Stop Cafe will close after Wednesday, April 26, as will shops like Parisi and the Mountain Chocolate Factory and The LINK. Science City will do so even sooner (this coming Monday).
Most affected businesses will reopen Sunday or Monday after the draft.
So what’s the latest estimate for how many fans are expected to attend? Keenan said more than 100,000 have registered for the NFL’s draft app. Last year in Las Vegas, the draft drew an estimated 300,000 fans over the three days. In 2019, some 600,000 were estimated to have attended the NFL Draft in Nashville.
Parade crowds for championship Kansas City Chiefs and Royals teams in the last decade have measured in the hundreds of thousands, but there will be a difference between this event and those parades: Fans will enter the NFL Draft areas through security.
Attendees’ belongings must be carried and contained in clear plastic bags, similar to the policy in place for Chiefs games at Arrowhead Stadium.
The draft’s main fan-entry gate will be on the south side of Liberty Memorial. The gate will open at noon Thursday, April 27, and Friday, April 28, and 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 29.
The secured fan area can accommodate about 60,000 at a time, according to the NFL.
“We encourage people to take advantage of all three days,” Keenan said. “We anticipate huge crowds and we’re ready for it. But this is a very different setup than the parades.”
Keenan said the NFL and KC initiated conversations about Kansas City as a host site seven years ago. The announcement that KC would play host in 2023 was made in 2019, and planning began in earnest about two years ago.
“We’ve been visiting Kansas City on a regular basis for about a year,” Keenan said.
Some work on the site actually started before the buildout that’s currently underway began affecting streets around Union Station. The parking area under Union Station had to be reinforced.
The NFL will use various areas around and near Union Station for the draft. The draft’s red carpet, for instance, featuring players who hope to be drafted, will be at the Liberty Memorial. After arrival on site, players in attendance will be transported to a “green room” inside Union Station.
Seventeen draft prospects have been invited to Kansas City.
When it’s over, breakdown of the site — returning Union Station and environs to pre-draft glory — will take seven to 10 days, Keenan said. But if all goes as planned, next week’s NFL draft could pave the way for an eventual encore appearance in Kansas City.
“We’ll likely bring the draft back here at some point,” she said.
