Draft night in Pittsburgh
- The 2026 NFL Draft officially kicks off tonight on the North Shore outside Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. (sports.yahoo.com) - This is the first time the Draft is in Pittsburgh since 1948, and fan events are active around town. (x.com) - Teams, media, and fans are expecting heavy trade activity and local draft-week festivities through tonight. (x.com)
The 2026 National Football League Draft opens Thursday night, April 23, on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, with the first round set to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern. (operations.nfl.com) The league is staging the three-day event across two sites: the Draft Theater and main stage outside Acrisure Stadium, and the free Draft Experience fan festival at Point State Park. The draft runs through Saturday, April 25, with 257 picks over seven rounds. (steelers.com) Fans can enter the Draft Experience for free by registering through NFL OnePass, while the theater area for the pick announcements uses invited ticket holders. NFL event guidance lists Draft Experience hours of noon to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. (nfl.com, support.nfl.com) Pittsburgh has not hosted the draft since 1948, when the league held its player selection meeting at the Fort Pitt Hotel. The National Football League announced Pittsburgh as the 2026 host city in May 2024. (nfl.com) The setup turns the draft into a citywide event instead of a hotel ballroom show, with the league and VisitPITTSBURGH building programming around the riverfront and downtown core from April 23 to 25. VisitPITTSBURGH’s official guide describes the weekend as a full visitor event tied to the North Shore and Point State Park footprint. (visitpittsburgh.com) On the football side, the order is already set for all seven rounds, and the Las Vegas Raiders hold the No. 1 overall pick. NFL Football Operations lists 257 total selections in the 91st edition of the draft. (media.nfl.com, operations.nfl.com) After Thursday’s first round, Rounds 2 and 3 begin Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern, and Rounds 4 through 7 start Saturday at noon Eastern. The draft tracker on NFL.com lists Round 1 on April 23, Rounds 2 and 3 on April 24, and the final four rounds on April 25. (nfl.com, nfl.com) By Thursday night, the league will have brought one of its biggest offseason events back to Pittsburgh for the first time in 78 years — this time on an outdoor stage beside Acrisure Stadium instead of inside a downtown hotel. (nfl.com, steelers.com)
