NFL Draft could generate $175 million to $200 million for Detroit, officials say
Detroit — The 2024 NFL Draft kicking off here Thursday could generate between $175 million and $200 million in economic impact for Detroit with 300,000 to 400,000 people expected to descend on the city for the event, officials predicted Wednesday.
City and state stakeholders, private business owners and the NFL have spent months preparing for draft week, investing millions to show off Detroit in its revival stage to a national audience. Officials say the money spent will be worth it for the return that comes.
"When you look at the investment we've made, it's basically about $10 million. And I'd make that trade every day for a week," said Claude Molinari, president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, during a Wednesday afternoon panel discussion on the economic impact of the draft.
Patrick Anderson, CEO of East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group LLC, compared the magnitude of the event to Super Bowl XL hosted in Detroit in 2006. The firm is estimating the total economic impact of the 2024 NFL draft in downtown Detroit will be more than $160 million.
Anderson expects the draft will have a direct economic impact of $97,513,500 in Detroit and an indirect economic impact of $63,383,775. Anderson estimates there will be 255,000 visitors attending with some coming to more than one event over the three-day period. Of the $97 million in direct impact, attendees are expected to spend an estimated $35 million.
"We think this is a particularly good opportunity for Detroit since such a large portion of this expenditure is a net addition to the Detroit area economy," Anderson said.
Kansas City's NFL Draft event last year had an economic impact of $164.3 million on the city, including $108.8 million in direct spending and $55.5 million in induced/indirect impact with a total attendance of around 312,000, The Detroit News previously reported.
Peter O'Reilly, vice president of the NFL's club business, international and league events, said the "pre-registration numbers we're seeing are exceeding any other draft we've done," he said, adding that they are in the hundreds of thousands.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, at the Wednesday event, called the draft "one more chapter in the story that we continue to tell the world about what's happening in Michigan, what's going on here in the city of Detroit."
Molinari said that the bureau is working with legislators in Lansing and "hoping that we can put forward a revolving large special event fund so that we can continue to build on these events."
On the potential of having a state fund to support large events, Whitmer said Molinari "made a really compelling case ... there's a lot of reasons that that's something we should have in our toolbox."
She added the state is "in the middle of budget season. There's a lot of debate. There's a lot of things I'd like to get done on economic development so we can continue growing our economy and hosting events like this, but certainly there'll be a lot of negotiation happening in the next couple of months."
How much does the event cost?
O'Reilly on Wednesday wouldn't provide the NFL's specific investment amount for draft event, but the majority of the costs are covered by the league, he said.
City officials say it's hard to quantify how much they've spent preparing for the draft.
Of the city's estimated $1.76 million draft bill, $230,000 was spent on the City Wall projects including murals and art installations like the giant cleat project and painting electrical boxes to represent historic city athletes. Another $3,000 was spent on hosting business certification fairs for minority and women-based businesses, where more than 300 small businesses became certified to work as vendors during the event.
Another $1.53 million was spent on traffic signal improvements, tree planting and sprucing up medians in the city, but those funds came from the city's street fund, which comes from state grant money from gas tax revenue.
The city doesn't consider its other renovations over the last year to be "draft improvements" including renovations to Hart Plaza, $5 million for the Dodge Fountain restoration, $425,000 for six Welcome to Detroit signs, and freeway cleanup in anticipation for more visitors. The city said it relied on the private partnerships, which assisted in applying for the draft to be held in Detroit four years ago, to cover some improvement costs as part of preparations. The Downtown Detroit Partnership and Downtown Development Authority did not immediately respond to questions about how much those entities contributed to the footprint's preparation.
Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, which operates Campus Martius through private funds, said the organization raised $2 million on hosting Draft Day in the D, including the four parks and Woodward activations. "Other investments made were part of DDP’s general operating budget that downtown will benefit long after draft weekend, such as infrastructure and public space improvements,” Larson said.
Detroit Police Chief James White has said that not a single officer will have a day off during the three-day event and the department expects to rack up "a lot" of police overtime, which was allocated for in Detroit's fiscal budget through last year's surpluses. The city is also getting security assistance from nearby agencies like the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and flying in K-9's for an intense bomb sweep.
More:Love it or hate it, 'D-E-T-R-O-I-T' sign installed ahead of NFL Draft gets reactions
The state raised $10 million in private dollars to make the draft free to attend for an anticipated 300,000 visitors, said Christopher Moyer, spokesman for Visit Detroit. The event also has more than a dozen partnerships that are assisting in the funding of the event.
khall@detroitnews.com
@bykaleahall