Detroit to host 2024 NFL Draft

Green Bay was one of three finalist to host the event.

When it was announced in late February that the Green Bay Packers were going to lose a home game to play overseas, team president Mark Murphy took the time to make it known that the city hosting the 2024 NFL Draft, an endeavor Green Bay was persuing, would potentially offset the financial losses of being short a home game. In the same conversation, Murphy noted Green Bay was one of three finalist cities, along with Detroit and Washington, to host the event.

Last week, it was announced that Kansas City won the bid for the 2023 NFL Draft. On the Monday of the NFL’s annual spring meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, the league officially announced that Detroit had won the bid as 2024’s host. Early today, it was also announced that the Lions are to host this upcoming season’s Hard Knocks series on HBO.

While it certainly doesn’t help the financials of the team to lose out on an event, it should be noted that the Packers will still have eight home games in 2022, despite “hosting” a game in London, due to the league’s expanded 17-game regular season.

Since it was announced that Green Bay was a finalist city for the draft, many had doubts about if the area was best suited to throw such a national, out-of-town event. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, who has been a local for a generation, stated on Twitter, “I never believed hosting the draft was a good idea. The infrastructure isn’t in place. We’d just look bad.”

After it was officially announced that the Packers were out of the running as a host, Murphy released a statement saying that the franchise’s pursuit of hosting the draft will not end with the 2024 bid.