A local event organizer who alleged the City of Pittsburgh, a Downtown nonprofit and the NFL were conspiring against his efforts to host an event featuring Black-owned businesses during the 2026 NFL Draft may have reached a compromise.
William “B” Marshall — who has organized Juneteenth celebrations and other large events in the city — had initially applied to host vendors along Liberty Avenue Downtown and in Market Square during the April 23-25 draft.
His goal was to provide a platform for minority-owned businesses to get close to the action and make money off the hundreds of thousands of people anticipated to flock to the NFL’s marquee off-season event.
City officials did not approve his event application, though, as no permits were being issued for areas around the draft footprint.
Marshall this week told TribLive that Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration offered a solution — a new location, still in the vicinity of the draft.
Now Marshall is hoping to set up an event — which he’s calling the Pittsburgh Draft Bash — in Allegheny Commons Park on the North Side. The park is home to the National Aviary and near the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and Allegheny General Hospital.
“It still would be in the flow of where the NFL is going to be,” Marshall said. “People will just be so happy that we have a space to do something that they would actually come out.”
Emily Bourne, a public safety spokeswoman, confirmed city officials met with Marshall last week and offered space in the park as an option for his event.
Bourne said Marshall was instructed to update his application to reflect the new location. The application, she said, “will be reviewed as quickly as possible once it is updated.”
A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office did not respond to inquiries about officials’ meeting with Marshall.
Marshall said he’s hoping to bring about 100 Black-owned businesses to the space to sell food or merchandise. He’s also planning to have a DJ or musical performer.
The event would be held during the draft.
Marshall last month said he felt the city, NFL and nonprofit Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership were engaging in a “conspiracy” against him when they did not approve his plans for an event along Liberty Avenue and Market Square.
He has clashed with the city before.
He took Pittsburgh to court over a permitting dispute ahead of his Juneteenth event last year. The city ultimately granted his event permit request just days before the holiday.
Marshall last year sued the city and then-Mayor Ed Gainey, alleging the mayor withheld funding and slow-walked permits for Marshall’s events.
The prior year, Marshall and Gainey hosted dueling Juneteenth events.