Where Is This Year’s NFL Draft?
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It’s time to start preparing for the NFL Draft! The event will be held in Las Vegas this year, so make sure you know where to go and what to expect.
The Draft’s Location
The 2021 NFL Draft will be held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29-May 1, it was announced on Wednesday. This will be the first time the city has hosted the draft since 1957. It’s also the first time the draft will be held in an outdoor stadium.
Previous Locations
The NFL Draft was held in Chicago, Illinois for the first time in 2015. It was held at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. The 2016 NFL Draft was held in Chicago again and will be returning to the city for the 2017 draft.
Prior to 2015, the last time the NFL Draft was held in Chicago was in 1963. That year’s draft was also held at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre. In 1962, the NFL Draft returned to New York City after a one-year hiatus and was again held at Rockefeller Center.
This Year’s Location
In 2021, the NFL Draft will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, making it the first time the city has hosted the event since its inception in 1936. The event will take place from April 29 to May 1. The main site of the draft will be at FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns. This will mark the first time that an NFL team has hosted the draft in its own stadium.
The Draft’s Date and Time
The 2021 NFL Draft is scheduled to take place from April 29-May 1 in Cleveland, Ohio. The event will start with the first round on Thursday, April 29 at 8 p.m. ET. Rounds 2-3 will be on Friday, April 30 at 7 p.m. ET, and rounds 4-7 will be on Saturday, May 1 at noon ET.
Previous Dates and Times
The 2019 NFL Draft will begin on Thursday, April 25 and end on Saturday, April 27. The first round will begin at 8:00 p.m. EDT, and the subsequent rounds will be two hours each.
The 2018 NFL Draft began on Thursday, April 26 and ended on Saturday, April 28. The first round began at 8:00 p.m. EDT, and the subsequent rounds were two hours each.
The 2017 NFL Draft was held from April 27-29 atPhiladelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The first night of the draft began at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday (April 27) and lasted until 11:00 p.m., while Friday and Saturday’s sessions ran from 7:00-11:00 p.m. EDT each night.
This Year’s Date and Time
The 2020 NFL Draft will be held April 23-25. The draft will start at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 23 and will conclude Saturday, April 25. ESPN and ABC will televise the draft for the 22nd consecutive year.
This is the first time in NFL history that the draft will be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. All 32 team facilities will be closed to the public and only essential personnel will be in attendance.
The Draft’s Format
Previous Formats
The event has undergone several format changes since the first NFL draft in 1936. The following is a breakdown of how the draft has changed throughout the years.
1936-1958: Held in various locations including hotel ballrooms, restaurants, and New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the first NFL draft consisted of various team representatives passing around a list of eligible players and “selecting” them for their respective teams.
1959-1964: In an effort to standardize the process and add excitement to the event, the league held a coin toss to determine who would pick first overall. The team that won the toss could either choose to pick first in that year’s draft or defer their choice to the following year.
1965-1989: To prevent teams from gaming the system by finishing with identical records, the NFL instituted a Draft Lottery system in 1965. Under this system, all teams that finished with identical records would be entered into a pool where they would be given a random chance (weighted based on their record) at obtaining the top pick.
1990-present: In an effort to inject more excitement into primetime television broadcasts, as well as prevent tanking at the end of seasons, the current format was put into place beginning with the 1990 NFL Draft. In this format, non-playoff teams are ordered in reverse order of finish, with each team having an assigned number of selections per round based on their finish. Ties are broken by strength of schedule.
This Year’s Format
The 2021 NFL Draft will be held from April 29-May 1 in Cleveland, Ohio. It will be the first time the city has hosted the Draft since 2021. The format for this year’s Draft will be different from previous years. Instead of each team taking turns making their selections, the draft will be conducted in a “serpentine” format. This means that the order of picks will alternate between odd and even rounds, with the team selecting last in the odd rounds selecting first in the even rounds. The full draft order for all seven rounds can be found here.
