With the 80th annual NFL Draft headed for Chicago next month, NFL officials have announced plans to turn the city into a “draft town.”
Officials on Thursday announced that Grant Park will house a three-day outdoor interactive fan football festival spanning the size of 15 football fields.
The draft is set to take place at Chicago’s historic Auditorium Theatre at Roosevelt University and will expand into the area’s surrounding parks. Congress Plaza will turn into “Selection Square,” where officials will set up 32 draft tables.
Selection Square will serve as the “epicenter of the draft,” officials said.
Draft Town in Grant Park will feature music, food, flag football competitions, player appearances and autograph signings, and an NFL Draft shop.
The three-day event will also include a wind tunnel skydive simulator, a 40-yard LED screen for fans to race NFL stars running the 40-yard dash, an interactive area for kids and families, youth football clinics, a Super Bowl museum and a tavern.
Buckingham Fountain will even be lit up in the colors of the team that is on the clock during the Draft’s first two nights.
