CLEVELAND — Last year, the disappointment that Cleveland and the Browns felt over losing NFL drafts to Nashville and Las Vegas all washed away in one major announcement: The city would finally be getting the draft in 2021.
“It’s a big, big deal to our area, one of the founding areas of the NFL,” Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said at the time.
But will it look like we thought?
This weekend, Las Vegas was supposed to be full of pomp and circumstance. Thanks to COVID-19, fans are instead getting a look at Roger Goodell’s basement in a virtual event.
David Gilbert, President and CEO of Destination Cleveland, helped bring the draft to Cleveland and says there are no plans yet to adjust next year on account of the disease.
“We really have no idea what that impact, what the change and impact would be,” Gilbert said. “We are planning as though, you know, the draft happening a year from now is what we thought it was going to be three months ago, five months ago.”
It was supposed to be the biggest event since the RNC and set records, like Nashville did. That city drew in 600,000 visitors and witnessed an overall economic impact of $224 million.
Gilbert says even if social distancing ends, fans still must show up, and it remains unclear how many might.
“What the mindset is of the public in terms of being at larger events,” Gilbert said. “I think that’s going to take some time to come back.”
Dates and locations of the Cleveland draft have yet to be announced.
2020 DRAFT: Pick by pick breakdown, analysis
'A TOUGH DUDE': Kevin Stefanski on Jedrick Wills Jr