The NFL draft is officially heading to the nation’s capital in 2027.
President Donald Trump announced the news on Monday afternoon at the White House alongside NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris and Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser.
The plan is for the three-day event to be held at the National Mall.
“I don’t think there’s ever been anything like that,” Trump said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”
The draft has been alternating through various NFL cities since 2015, when the league ended a near-50 year run of hosting the event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Since then, the draft has been held in Chicago, Philadelphia, the Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit and Green Bay.
The event has become a mᴀssive ᴀsset for NFL cities who host it, driving hundreds of thousands of people to the host city each year. Detroit set an attendance record in 2024 with 750,000 people.
“The draft has really become one of the great entertainment sports events,” Goodell said. “We believe we’ll be well over a million [fans] when we come here to D.C. in 2027.
Washington hosting in 2027 will follow Pittsburgh, which is set to host the 2026 draft.
Hosting the draft is yet another exciting development for the Commanders, as the franchise has been in the midst of a renaissance under Harris’ new leadership as owner.
The Commanders, who were widely seen as a dysfunctional franchise under previous owner Dan Snyder, won their first playoff game in 19 years last week with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniel and made a run to the NFC Championship game.
Just last week, the Commanders and Washington D.C. officials came to an agreement on a new stadium at the old RFK Stadium site.
Washington played at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996 and won three Super Bowls in that span. The then-Redskins then moved their home field to Landover, Md., where they have been playing since.
Upon moving back to the old site of RFK Stadium, the franchise will build a new, roofed stadium that will be just a portion of the RFK campus.
“The approximately 65,000-seat stadium, which is expected to open in 2030, will occupy only 11% of the site,” the team announced. “In addition to building the stadium, the Commanders will be responsible for activating and developing multiple parcels of land around the stadium with restaurants, entertainment venues, H๏τels, housing, green space, and more.
“The entire campus is expected to create approximately 5,000-6,000 housing units, including at least 30% affordable housing.”
