The last time the NFL draft was in Chicago 50 years ago in 1964, Gil Brandt was an ace personnel executive for the Dallas Cowboys. As the revered senior draft analyst for NFL.com in 2014, he thinks it will be held in the Windy City again in 2015.
"If I were an oddsmaker, I would say Chicago is where it'll be next year," Brandt told SiriusXM NFL radio over the weekend. "The draft is going be a grand event, as we know it. It's going be, not only the players being selected, but we're going to have events outside of the draft area in which they will have a 40-yard dash race for people that want to run the 40 like players do. It'll be just like the event they have at the Super Bowl, the NFL Experience."
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The NFL just rocked the ratings by moving the date of the draft to May. Although there's a chance it will go back to April in '15, there's a much greater chance of taking it on the road. As one of the most venerable, historic NFL cities with a passionate fan base, Chicago is a perfect initial alternative to New York and Radio City Music Hall. It doesn't hurt that's it's a centrally located Midwest metropolis, much like Indianapolis with the NFL Scouting Combine in February.
Considering everything else that goes along with the draft weekend, Chicago is also big enough to handle it all. The NFL never rests at trying to make things bigger and better, and this latest move would qualify.
