The NFL Draft Brought Revenue to Detroit

students at a field trip

April 25-27, 2024, a weekend enhanced by excitement and anticipation,  the City of Detroit welcomed football fans from across the nation for the highly anticipated 2024 National Football League Draft. The downtown Detroit area was swarming with excited fans as they flocked to the various events, activities and venues to celebrate their teams’ selections. Amidst the exhilaration of the weekend, Detroit’s local businesses experienced a substantial boost in revenue, with hotels, restaurants, and bars reporting record-breaking sales over the course of the weekend. City and state stakeholders, private business owners and the NFL spent months preparing for draft week, investing millions to show off Detroit and its revival to a national audience. The NFL recorded more than 775,000 participants attending draft-related events in the downtown area. ‘Visit Detroit’ CEO Claude Molinari states that once the weekend is fully calculated, there is an estimated $150 to $175 million in economic benefit. According to Molinari, “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 for southeastern Michigan, and that’s 128 years of tracking that.”

 

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan believes the draft weekend will positively enhance people’s perception of Detroit as a place to visit and therefore enhance their long term revenue and give them a chance to host more major events. The success of the weekend serves as a testament to Detroit's ability to not only host large scale events, but its overall revitalization efforts.