For the first time, Las Vegas is set to host this year’s NFL Draft. Running from April 23-25, the draft has become a major occasion. Once an obscure, closed-door meeting of team owners, today the draft has become a multi-day event that appeals equally to football loyalists as well as the larger public. In 2019, host city Nashville saw several hundred thousand visitors arrive for the festivities. Millions more watched it on TV. Now factor in the magic of the Strip, and this year’s draft promises to be the biggest ever.
It all begins Thursday at the official NFL Draft Red Carpet, located at the scenic Fountains of Bellagio. The Red Carpet debuts this year and will launch the draft in high style. The NFL Red Carpet stage joins the NFL First Draft Stage and the NFL Draft Experience stages in featuring an array of interactive NFL-themed activities, from games and giveaways to autograph sessions with NFL players and Legends. The Draft Main Stage will also host a lineup of entertainers throughout the day.
Sin City is pulling out the stops to make this NFL Draft the most memorable of all. Before arriving in style at the Main Stage, draft picks gather at Red Carpet, a floating stage with a stunning backdrop provided by the Bellagio Fountains. To get there, the players are to arrive by boat. All Red Carpet and Main Stage events will be viewable from numerous spots along the Strip. These events are sure to attract excited crowds, so get there early.
The draft then starts in earnest at Selection Square. Located next to the newly opened Caesars Forum Conference Center and adjacent to the iconic Linq High Roller Observation Wheel, the Square will be where team representatives make deals and trade their draft picks. In fact, Ceasars and the NFL have partnered up for this event. In 2019, the NFL granted Ceasars Entertainment full rights to NFL logos and other properties. For its part, CET properties take in more than 20,000 individual rooms centrally located along the Strip–all in walking distance of the action.
With the arrival of the Las Vegas Raiders, the NFL chose Las Vegas for its 2020 Draft makes perfect sense. The growing spectacle of the NFL Draft requires resources that only a world-class city like Vegas can provide, and the presence of the Draft signals Vegas’ arrival as a major player in NFL-world.
