Philadelphia is "expecting 200,000 football fans to turn out in April for the first outdoor NFL draft, with festivities along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway," according to Julia Terruso of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The draft will take place in a "huge outdoor theater constructed in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art." A limited number of tickets will be "made available for the 3,000-seat theater in coming weeks." There is also "standing room on the Parkway, which will be transformed into a festival the size of 25 football fields, open free to the public before and during the draft, with huge LED screens to broadcast the action." Activities at the festival will include a "100-yard zip line, exhibits featuring Eagles memorabilia, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and a chance to visit the draft set and replica NFL locker rooms." Organizers said that museums along the Parkway "will remain open all three days of the draft." This event will cost $20-25M, the "bulk paid by the NFL" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/1). NFL Senior VP/Events Peter O'Reilly said that the crowd will be the "largest live audience in the NFL Draft's history." In Pennsylvania, Aaron Kasinitz noted the city of Philadelphia "hasn't hosted the draft" since '61. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said of security preparations, "The NFL certainly needs to be secure, but I don't expect that type of lock-down, shut-down stopping of mass transit, all that type of stuff. I would expect it to be similar to the Fourth of July event or Made in America, where people can move around" (PENNLIVE.com, 2/28).
