When you build a new football stadium, the NFL comes to town to romance you in any way possible, usually resulting in hosting rights to an NFL draft and a Super Bowl.
Trump just announced that half of that has already been secured for DC, as the city has been announced as the host of the 2027 NFL draft.
Earlier this month, the Washington Commanders found out they are about to get a new home at the site of RFK Stadium.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the city’s plans for a $2.7 billion domed stadium.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated, “Some of my earliest football memories growing up in the District were going to games at RFK Stadium. It’s time to bring the Commanders home.
“We are grateful for Josh Harris’ vision and determination and the leadership of Mayor Bowser in moving this transformational project forward. This world-class stadium will not only be an exciting site for NFL games and events in an iconic location but it will also be a community asset and an economic driver.”
As mentioned above, when you build a new stadium, an NFL draft and Super Bowl are generally soon to follow, and the NFL wasted no time in awarding DC a draft with a new stadium in the works.
Trump has been touting a big announcement, and this week, Trump and Goodell finally broke the news. Goodell stated, "The draft has really become one of the great entertainment and sports events," Goodell said. "Over a week ago in Green Bay, we had over 600,000 people attend. The year before, in Detroit, we had close to 800,000. … We believe we’ll be well over a million when we come here to D.C. in 2027.
"Not only do we believe it’s a great site, we believe it’s consistent with what the president said, which is investing in our communities and investing specifically here in the nation’s capital. … We think we can have a tremendous impact on this community. It will not just be an event. It will be something that will show the world how far the nation’s capital has come and where it’s going."
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked Trump for his help in assisting the city in getting the deal done to secure the new stadium, which will create a massive new stream of tourism for the city, as football fans from all teams will be flocking to DC when their team plays to see the new digs.
This is a huge coup for DC that will drive tourism for many years to come, so Trump had every right to be happy, stating, “The draft is a celebration of one of our country’s most cherished cultural institutions, and the annual highlights for football fans everywhere.
“Everyone in the world will be watching. We look forward to welcoming people from across the nation, from all over the world.”
To give you an idea of what this means to the city in terms of immediate tourism, the most recent NFL Draft brought in an estimated $213.6 million for Detroit, and that is a city hardly compares to DC in terms of tourist attractions, so I would expect DC to top $300 million when it hosts the draft.
In terms of yearly tourism, the new stadium in Arlington for the Dallas Cowboys still brings in an estimated 17 million visitors every year, generating billions in revenue, as fans still treat a game like a destination vacation, and that stadium was opened in 2009. If and when DC gets a Super Bowl, you can likely add another $500 million to the till, so anyone crying about the investment need only look at those numbers to realize how quickly this investment will be recouped by the city.
