Detroit sees record hotel revenue for draft week
Detroit showed last week why so many cities want to host the NFL draft.
The NFL said more than 775,000 people attended draft-related events in the city, and Visit Detroit President and CEO Claude Molinari says the economic impact on the city will exceed the pre-draft estimate of $150 million to $175 million. Molinari says there might never have been a week in history when the area's hotels made as much money as they made last week with the draft in town.
"The week before the draft was our best hotel revenue week of 2024," Molinari said, via the Detroit News. "It's possible that this past week with the draft will be the best hotel revenue week ever for Southeast Michigan, and that's 128 years of tracking that."
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he believes the draft will bolster perceptions of Detroit as a place to visit and a place that can successfully host major events.
"What we needed to do was change our national reputation," Duggan said. "We very consciously built up a national narrative and shared all of that with the national media, and I'm gonna say I was I was really pleased, and I think there'll be a significant lasting effect."
Green Bay will host the 2025 draft, and multiple cities are vying for the 2026 draft. The league has successfully turned the draft into a traveling show that has become one of the biggest annual events in American sports.
