Detroit officials debrief on NFL Draft, say economic impact could exceed $150M-$175M

Detroit — The economic impact of the three-day NFL Draft on Detroit, which broke attendance records as crowds flooded the city late last week, should be between $150 million and $175 million and might even exceed those figures but is still being calculated, a top Detroit tourism official said during a Monday press conference.

Visit Detroit, the former Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, is still quantifying the draft's economic impact and expects to have a report by June, said President and CEO Claude Molinari. But Molinari said he predicts the actual amount will exceed the $150 million to $175 million estimate.

"The week before the draft was our best hotel revenue week of 2024," Molinari said. "It's possible that this past week with the draft will be the best hotel revenue week ever for Southeast Michigan, and that's 128 years of tracking that."

Molinari was one of several officials, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who gathered Monday morning in the city to go over the draft's impact and how it went, from law enforcement issues to transportation use.

Duggan said Detroiters made a lasting impression and should be proud of the warm welcome they gave America last week. He also said this year's draft was unique in its inclusion of local businesses, which contributed to everything from food sales to VIP suites.

"I feel like we are a 10-year overnight success," Duggan said. "The credit really belongs to the people who live in this city."

The draft shattered previous attendance records with an estimated 775,000 coming to be a part of the three-day event; an additional 34 million people watched it on TV, up 6% from last year. As guests passed through entrances to the draft footprint, which extended from Hart Plaza to Campus Martius, phones with the NFL One Pass app downloaded were pinged using artificial intelligence, which was used to determine crowd estimates.

Visit Detroit is "very confident" in the attendance estimates within the footprint, Molinari said. But the 775,000 number only represents guests within this area and doesn't include other viewing areas at places like Capital Park and Eastern Market yet, he said.

"The NFL wanted that shot you all saw on Campus Martius," Duggan said. "I knew if we put the draft there that meant the NFL zone could never contain all of the people who were going to show up. It meant we had to use all of downtown from Corktown to Grand Circus Park to Eastern Market."

Grand Circus Park, for example, saw four times as many visitors on each of the three Draft days as a traditional Tigers Opening Day, said Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership. There were 90 food trucks and 135 small business vendors spread throughout the draft spaces and many local businesses like All Things Marketplace in Corktown saw the best sales they've ever had, Larson added.

After the record attendance, East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group LLC, in an updated report released Monday, estimated the net economic impact of the 2024 NFL draft could exceed $165 million, up from its original estimate of $160 million. The group predicted the draft will have a direct economic impact of $100,146,418 on Detroit, with an estimated $37,746,418 in total by attendees.

"The record number of attendees at the NFL draft in Detroit creates additional economic impact, and our original attendance estimate was within 10% of actual turnout,” AEG Chief Operating Officer and Director of Economic Analysis Tyler Theile said in a statement. “Hosting the NFL draft was an exciting win for Detroit and presented invaluable opportunities for the city to showcase its culture on a national stage, fostering long-term tourism and investment prospects.”

Minimal crime reported

The Detroit Police Department, meanwhile, reported two arrests and two juvenile detainments within the footprint over all three days, Chief James White said. The department planned so no one could go 20 yards within the area without seeing a police officer, he added.

"We wanted to be courteous, we wanted to make sure that we were present and that it wasn't over-policed, but you could not go too far without seeing the police and that they were highly engaged," White said.

Police worked closely with the Detroit Fire Department, as well as federal, state, and other local law enforcement agencies including the Oakland and Wayne County Sheriff's Offices, the FBI, and the ATF.

The draft footprint reached capacity on both Thursday and Friday, which required a temporary pause on admissions. There were reports of some people jumping over barriers to gain access, which White said police had expected and for which the department was prepared.

Disaster averted

One potential disaster was narrowly avoided Thursday morning thanks to the help of AT&T, Duggan explained at the news conference.

By 10 a.m. Thursday, fans were already lined up down Jefferson Ave waiting to enter the draft when the mayor received a call from White informing him that DPD's real-time crime center's live camera feed of the draft footprint had gone dark.

"We didn't have the visuals that we needed to ensure the safety and execute our strategy," White said. "We wanted all cameras hot before they walked in, and they were by the way, we were able to get things back up and running."

Duggan then called David Lewis, president of AT&T Michigan, and got the company to install a backup line to the police department's headquarters so the draft could open to the public on time. They later learned that a construction company had accidentally cut through a fiber optic line earlier that morning.

As deconstruction of the draft continues, more downtown will reopen and traffic will return to normal by May 7. The QLine is currently stopping its Woodward Ave route outside Little Caesars Arena but will begin stopping at Campus Martius later this week and resume full service to Congress Street by next Monday or Tuesday.

Will draft be a people magnet?

Over the three-day draft, the People Mover moved 69,211 people, its highest April ridership since the early 2010s. The QLine transported 68,377 people during the draft, and the city moved roughly 18,000 people on fan shuttles.

SMART park and ride shuttles served 29,000 riders over three days. The D2A2 bus that runs from Ann Arbor to Detroit saw the highest use number in its history on Thursday, and transported 2,169 people between Thursday and Sunday, according to officials.

For many local officials, they said the draft is only the beginning. Duggan talked about lasting changes, from freeway cleanups to accelerated blight removal.

"What we needed to do was change our national reputation," Duggan said. "We very consciously built up a national narrative and shared all of that with the national media, and I'm gonna say I was I was really pleased, and I think there'll be a significant lasting effect."

He hopes to see Detroit become a destination for young people starting their careers and businesses looking to expand over the next three to four years,

"That's going to be the real measure, is over the next three or four years, do we see the kind of acceleration in people moving here and businesses expanding here?" Duggan said.

Detroit is just getting started, Molinari said, pointing out that there are 26 days until the Movement Festival, 32 days until the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix and 59 days until the Rocket Mortgage golf classic.

Bill Emerson, president of Rocket Companies, noted that Detroit will host the NCAA men's Final Four basketball tournament in 2027.

"We didn't break, in Detroit style, we shattered the previous NFL draft record by nearly 200,000," Emerson said. "That impact will leave an indelible memory for the world as we continue to experience the upward trajectory of the great American city. But the work is not done."

hmackay@detroitnews.com