The 2024 NFL Draft is just around the corner, and the city of Detroit is pulling all the stops to make the event a success. Presented by Bud Light, the 89th edition of the draft is scheduled from April 25th to April 27th, with the area of Downtown Detroit expected to be the center stage. Once completed, the venue will take up 2 million square feet of the area, and for this purpose, street closures have already moved to their second phase.
Advertisement
The city plans to close Northbound Woodward Avenue from Congress to State, Eastbound Cadillac Square from Woodward Avenue to Randolph Street, Westbound Cadillac Square from Randolph Street to Bates Street, and from Bates Street to East Congress Street. Useful information about parking, maps, and alternative modes of transport, has already been provided by the City to help drivers navigate their way around the closures.
The first phase of the closures already began at the end of March, and the 2nd phase will begin shortly. The closure will continue through the draft and will remain in effect till early May, making life a little hard for the businessmen and shop owners. Darren Cunningham, the reporter for WZYZ TV Channel 7, stated the full extent of how the construction work and street closure have affected the people navigating their way through the downtown area, particularly around Cadillac Square.
The news channel interviewed a few shop owners, with one claiming that his business saw a bit of a downturn due to road closures preventing buyers from coming to his place. Some merchants, however, are excited by the impact that the draft will have on their businesses because the city projections estimate 300k to 400k people to arrive in the Motor City at the time of the draft.
Notably, even though the planning for the draft began as soon as the dates were announced, the city didn’t start to inconvenience the public before March 29th.
Preparations for NFL Draft 2024
While the second phase of the street closures will begin as soon as possible, as per Detroit Sports, phase one began on Friday, March 29th, and the city closed the following streets: Randolph Street between Macomb Street and Fort Street, Monroe Street between North Woodward Avenue and Randolph Street, Farmer Street between Randolph and Bates (Garage access only), Bates Street (no through traffic), and Farmer from Randolph to Bates.
To make it a memorable experience for the fans eager to see the event unfold, the city has opened up viewing and entertainment areas which include Grand Circus Park, Beacon Park, Capitol Park, Paradise Valley Beatrice Buck Park, etc. To make the draft more lively and build an atmosphere of football, the city will host youth-focused activities like NFL FLAG skills and drills and football clinics. All of this is part of the “Know Before You Go” public awareness campaign to provide necessary information for local citizens and fans coming to the city to watch the largest public sporting event in Detroit’s history.
This upcoming draft will finally be the decider of where some great talents from the college landscape will land, including the likes of Caleb Williams (projected No. 1 pick), Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix Jr., Marvin Harrison Jr., and more. Most importantly, fans can witness the entire event for free if they are in Detriot during that time.
