Question of the Day - 23 February 2020

Upwards of a reported 600,000 people attended last year's NFL Draft in Nashville. This seems a little hard to believe.

We know crowds around here and it's tough to imagine double the number of what we see on New Year's Eve, even in Sin City, which has triple the number of hotel rooms in Music City (Nashville has all of 42,000 rooms, compared to Vegas' 149,000-plus). We figure a lot of attendees were counted multiple times, including those who live in the area and didn't bring outside money to Nashville.

Still, by whatever yardstick it was measured, hundreds of thousands of people attended the 2019 event in Tennessee. If the 2020 draft here comes anywhere close, it'll set a record for visitor attendance that would seem difficult, if not impossible, to break.

Which means that no one hotel-casino could host the entire event by itself, not even MGM Grand or Venetian/Palazzo or Wynncore. Like New Year's Eve, the whole city and surrounding areas (probably as far away as Mesquite and Pahrump) will be required to accommodate the expected hordes. 

Last November, it was announced that the NFL Draft itself, at least the big first day out of the three-day event, would be held at the new Caesars Forum Convention Center, opening next month.

That made total sense, given that: 1) Caesars Entertainment and the NFL inked a deal early last year in which Caesars pays the league $30 million a year for the right to use NFL and pro-football-team logos in its promotions (as long as the promos aren't within sports books); 2) Caesars Forum is smack dab in the middle of CET Row on the east side of the Strip, with 20,000 of its hotel rooms stretching from Harrah's to Planet Hollywood, all within walking distance of the LINQ Promendade: and 3) as the story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal explained, "The first-ever Las Vegas NFL Draft will need iconic Las Vegas imagery. The High Roller towering 550 feet above Caesars Forum appears to check off that box."

More details were made official in early February after an appearance by NFL Draft representatives at the Clark County Commissioners' meeting.

The 2020 NFL Draft will launch at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday April 23 with the Red Carpet at the Bellagio fountains, where draft prospects will make their debut; a stage will reportedly be constructed on the lake and prospects will ride out and back on boats. The Main Stage will be next to the new Caesars Forum convention center, where fans will view first-round selections on Thursday night, rounds 2-3 on Friday night, and rounds 4-7 on Saturday. The Main Stage will host daily performances by headliners, along with games, autograph sessions, giveaways, and a pro shop, throughout the long weekend.

Road closures will cause traffic delays on the Strip between Bellagio and the LINQ and Flamingo Road to Koval for 24 days before, during, and after the Draft.

All in all, the NFL Draft is shaping up to be the biggest event Las Vegas has ever seen.