President Donald Trump announced Monday that the National Mall in Washington, D.C. will host the 2027 NFL Draft — with expectations that the three-day event will draw more than 1 million tourists to the nation’s capital to visit.
The announcement came during an Oval Office ceremony attended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“The draft has really become one of the great entertainment sports events,” Goodell said following the announcement. “Just a week ago in Green Bay, we had over 600,000 people attend, the year before in Detroit, we had close to 800,000.”
The selection of Washington comes at a pivotal time for the Commanders franchise, which just last week announced plans to build a new $4 billion stadium at the site of the old RFK Stadium in D.C.
The team hasn’t played within district boundaries since leaving RFK in 1996 and moving to Maryland.
“What a great day for Washington,” Harris declared. “To host the NFL draft in 2027, on the mall, I believe we’ll get over a million people and it’s going to be an amazing day and it will showcase what Washington is all about.”
Harris presented Trump with a personalized Commanders jersey, calling the president “the ultimate Commander” and noting with a touch of humor that “there’s no bird on it” – a reference to the Philadelphia Eagles’ recent White House visit where they also gifted Trump a team jersey.
The draft will be organized through a partnership between the Commanders and Events DC, the city’s local organizing committee. Goodell emphasized that hosting the draft aligns with the administration’s goal of “investing in our communities, investing specifically here in our nation’s capital.”
The NFL Draft has evolved dramatically from its origins as a simple administrative procedure.
Once permanently stationed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as a one-day event, it has transformed into a traveling three-day spectacle that generates significant fanfare — and has a lasting economic impact for host cities.
Pittsburgh will host next year’s draft in 2026 before the event moves to Washington the following year.