Golden arches and steel beams — the backbone of Pittsburgh’s famous bridges — completed the backdrop of the 2026 NFL Draft stage, where hopeful prospects will soon accept the golden ticket to their future football career.
Construction crews scrambled Wednesday to complete work on the NFL Draft theater viewing area — just hours before hundreds of thousands of football fans are expected to flood Pittsburgh. Twinkling lights cascaded across the top of the giant arch, which is the theater that houses the draft stage and exclusive seats for each football club.
“To create a stage that’s a love letter to what’s literally building and connecting this town was a pretty easy choice for us,” said Chris Stackhouse, NFL vice president of creative and design.
Spanning about 4 million square feet — or over 68 football fields — the draft footprint will stretch across the North Shore and Point State Park, where fans will gather for three days for interactive experiences, concerts and watch parties. The draft fan experience opens at noon Thursday, but concerts kicked off Wednesday evening on the North Shore.
“We are in the process of putting on the finishing touches, as you can see, with some of the work going on behind me,” said Steve Farago, the NFL’s director of event operations. “We’re cleaning up the site and just getting ready to welcome all the fans over the next three days.”
Hundreds of workers, including local Pittsburghers, put in hours across both sites of the draft in preparation, according to Farago.
“That way we can say Pittsburgh had a hand in literally building the NFL Draft,” he said. “It’s been a great, great collaboration getting to this point, and a total team effort.”
Some of the NFL prospects have traveled to the Steel City for the draft, Farago said, and will walk a red carpet at Point State Park ahead of the first round of picks.
Behind the scenes
Aside from celebrating the future of football, Farago said the draft enables Pittsburgh as a city to be spotlighted — as well as the area’s “rich history of football.”
“You could see the city literally come to life behind us in the theater, mirroring what’s over the bridge, over the rivers,” Farago said. “Draft gives us the opportunity to showcase Pittsburgh in a very, very unique way, through art, culture, music, the physical landscape, with guests coming in from out of town, traversing the bridges, downtown Pittsburgh, and really taking in everything the city has to offer.”
Stackhouse said it was easy to find inspiration in Pittsburgh.
“It’s literally the home and the birthplace of Andy Warhol, of the pop art movement,” he said. “Finding ways to bring that to life and bring that spectacle to this spectacle was pretty amazing.
Throughout the backstage area of the draft theater, Pittsburgh-inspired decor continued with the incorporation of local artists’ work.
Pittsburgh-based mixed media artist Kim Fox created an installation of each of the the football teams’ logos that’s set up in the Player Walkway, and Pittsburgh native Burton Morris made a pop art-style wall hanging of all of the teams’ helmets in the Prospect Green Room.
Fox’s logos are painted on wood and incorporate a map for each city, as well as new and old tin.
“I do love the idea of repurposing old things, and taking old things and making them beautiful,” she said backstage on Wednesday. “I think that Pittsburgh is one of the most beautiful cities that I’ve ever seen. And a lot of that has to do with the old steel and the rust that adds to it and the patina of it, and also just the rebirth of Pittsburgh over the years.”
For Morris’ installation, he said the idea is that the first round draft pick for each football franchise will sign the corresponding helmet, which are mounted on individual colorful backgrounds.
“These are all built on steel panels — each one to represent the history of Pittsburgh,” he said. “Growing up here, I understood what the steel mills were and the history of the city.
“What’s great about football and the NFL, it’s all about energy and color and excitement. And I think that’s what I was trying to bring to this. So my vision was taking all 32 iconic football helmets with some new logos you’ll see, and bringing it all together.”
Inside Acrisure Stadium, the three days of the draft will offer multiple football clinics for fans, as well as concessions and a giant Topps trading card tent.
Fans can also try their luck with kicking a field goal on the turf.
Across the Allegheny
Fans wanting to take in the draft from both sides of the river can expect a 10-minute boat ride across the Allegheny on the Gateway Clipper.
The sightseeing tour agency’s fleet will be open to fans traveling back and forth from the stadium to Point State Park on Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, the boats will be reserved for prospects.
“We highlight the unique aspects and the transportation opportunities for those fans, whether they’re here from Pittsburgh and know those routes, or someone coming to visit from out of town,” Farago said.
The Gateway Clipper will dock right next to the Point State Park Fountain and red carpet area. Prospects will walk the red carpet at 5 p.m. Thursday.
The walk from the stadium to the dock is lined with concession stands.
NFL and Steelers officials, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor and former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch held a ribbon cutting for the Steelers Country area within the park Wednesday.
“What we’re excited to do here today is celebrate football fans, and specifically the best fans in football, in the National Football League, Steelers nation. Such a special fan base that’s so passionate about about our team, and we know Steelers nation is global,” said Dan Rooney, vice president of strategy for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Attractions in the Steelers Country section features an interactive space within the NFL Draft Experience.
The area includes an immersive 1970s-inspired fan cave set up to resemble a classic Pittsburgh basement. The display features a retro television showing game highlights, a yellow couch accompanied by a Steelers lamp, and faux walls covered in old-school player caricatures and other Steelers memorabilia.
Steelers Country also has a Terrible Towel art piece and massive Super Bowl ring displays for fans to use as a photo op.
The Steelers’ six Super Bowl trophies are lined up behind glass and on display in Point State Park.
The park also has a few picnic-style tables with umbrellas and some lawn chairs available for fans.
Tourism agency Visit Pittsburgh predicted the three-day event will draw upward of 500,000 to 700,000 fans over three days and generate an economic impact in the range of $120 million to $213 million. More than 1,800 credentialed media members are expected to cover the event.
Farago said people will probably be packed in close in the theater viewing area.
“We’ll fit quite a bit,” he said. “We’ll work closely with our public safety partners, NFL security and operations team to make sure we’re doing that in a safe manner.”
Nicki Ewell, the NFL’s vice president of global events, said fans should turn on their push notifications in the OnePass app to get live updates on capacity.
“If we get to capacity in front of theater viewing doesn’t mean we’re at capacity at Acrisure Stadium, North Shore Point State Park, so we will make sure that we’re communicating directly with our fans,” Ewell said.