CLEVELAND — What a day it was in downtown Cleveland on Thursday!
The news became official just after 3:00 p.m. at Public Square in the 'Rock the Draft' event hosted by our Jim Donovan. Cleveland will host the 2021 NFL Draft.
Numerous people worked behind the scenes to bring what Jimmy called "an incredible spectacle" to Cleveland. Among those who spearheaded Cleveland's bid to the National Football League was David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Destination Cleveland.
"This is our holy grail," Gilbert smiled as he chatted with Jimmy on Thursday evening's Donovan Live. "We spent a lot of time, a lot of energy, a couple years of our lives and some gray hairs to get to this point."
This wasn't the first time that Cleveland had been a finalist for the draft. Nashville got the draft in 2019 and Las Vegas will have it next year. So what made the difference this time around?
"I think it was going to the NFL, even after we lost and saying that we still wanted it," Gilbert said. "We told them that we're going to make it great, asked where we missed and ultimately we convinced them."
The biggest question on everyone's minds now that we know the draft is coming to Cleveland is: Where will it be held?
"The site isn't completely decided yet," Gilbert told Jimmy. "The NFL will decide and they even told us in Nashville they moved it a handful of times those last few months. Our big thing for them was to provide as broad a palette of great facilities as interconnected as we could. Clearly our lakefront will play a big role."
So how big will the gathering of people be when the draft arrives here in two years? "This is a big deal for the NFL. It's a big party. It will have more people probably than any event ever hosted in Cleveland, maybe except for the Great Lakes Exposition in the 1930s," said Gilbert.
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Watch the entire interview with Jimmy and David Gilbert in the player above.