More than a year after the fact, it has been revealed how the National Football League is molesting Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and state taxpayers for the “privilege” of hosting next year’s NFL draft in the erstwhile Steel City.
Specifically.
As Point Park University’s “Next Generation Newsroom” (NGN) reports it (in a story picked up by the Tribune-Review), “the NFL won’t be paying at all” to bring what amounts to its player development meeting to Pittsburgh next April 23-25.
In a manner of speaking, that is. And we suspected as much.
“Pennsylvania will provide [the use of Point State Park for a “fan experience” attraction] for free to the NFL, according to a signed letter of commitment provided by the Bureau of State Parks to Next Generation Newsroom.”
Additionally, NGN reports that “two locations on the North Shore, a stretch of the riverfront and parking lots near Acrisure Stadium, are being given to the NFL rent-free, according to two letters of commitment obtained by Next Generation Newsroom through Right-to-Know requests. All three letters of commitment were signed in February 2024.”
Taxpayers will help foot the bill. Through their friendly local government promotional agencies whose coffers have been stuffed with millions of public dollars and those from a corporate coalition, around $11 million if you’re counting, according to various sources. (That’s $1 from the City of Pittsburgh, $2 million million from VisitPittsburgh, $3 million from Allegheny County and $5 million from the corporate community.)
And do note, this taxpayer assault was set in contract stone three months before the NFL formally named Pittsburgh as the host draft city in May of last year.
More per the NGN reportage:
“Throughout the letters of commitment, the NFL asks for control over a range of details and for waived fees, including not being charged for utilities and ‘no revenue sharing, ticket fees or other forms of fees or charges paid to the venue.’
“If rental fees are charged by any of the venues, those must be paid by the local organizing committee, which has an $11 million fund to host the draft.”
Again, public money is involved.
Well, isn’t this all special: the billionaire barons of sport, and now in the process of paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to pampered players in free agency (and lots of that being guaranteed money), have snookered locals, public and private, to cover a none-too-small bolus of their party expenses.
But, but, but the acolytes of public pocket diving in promotion of evermore corporate wealthfare insist, the event will more than pay for itself through the reams of money that will be spent by attendees.
But NGN also notes that “the NFL will select concessionaires, caterers and security, according to the letters of commitment … with much of the revenue from the event retained by the NFL.”
Local officials insist they’ll make a killing in other ways, and cite past NFL draft economic forecasts, forecasts that we’ve long contended most likely are inflated for public relations purposes.
And “While local businesses aim to get a piece of profit through the NFL’s Source program, the NFL will call the shots on who is working the venues,” NGN further reports.
Sorry, but taxpayers should have no skin in this latest iteration of Pick the Public Pocket and Pick the Winners of Picking the Public Pocket. Nor should they kowtow to the cartel that is the NFL, the National Fleecing League.
The NFL and host teams like to claim that they don’t make any money off the NFL Draft. At least that’s what Aaron Popkey, the director of public affairs for the Green Bay Packers, told WFRV-TV last month. The Packers host this year’s NFL draft next month.
“For the NFL, it’s really a break-even-at-best proposition because of the amount of expense they put into the event, in terms of all the people they bring in, the draft theater that gets constructed, all the pieces that go into it,” he said.
But that’s the NFL’s cross bars to bear, so to speak, not the public’s. And given the kind of money the NFL makes, in general, and likely through TV commercials, specifically, we sincerely doubt the NFL makes no money on this event.
Prove it, we say. Open up your books.
Popkey contends it’s much the same break-even story for the Packers. By the way, the City of Green Bay and the state of Wisconsin reportedly have about $7.5 million in taxpayer funds earmarked for this year’s draft.
Again, prove the break-even assertion. And why should taxpayers of the host cities help make the NFL whole? If Popkey’s contention is accurate, that makes things even worse. For, in another manner of speaking, taxpayers are underwriting a money-losing event.
All props to Point Park’s Next Generation Newsroom and reporter Abigail Hakas for birddogging this story.
And given the public nature of the NFL Draft, and the dubious expenditure of public dollars, it’s past time that all public contracts and/or expenditures related to Pittsburgh hosting the NFL draft be publicly released, posted on both the NFL’s and Steelers’ websites.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
