WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to announce Monday an agreement for Washington, D.C., to host the 2027 NFL draft, a person familiar with the plans told NBC News. The aim is for the event to take place on the National Mall.
Axios was first to report the news. The NFL declined to comment.
Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser went public last week with plans to return to Washington and build a new stadium after 27 years in Maryland.
The NFL draft is an annual selection of the top college football players by individual teams. To be eligible, players must have been out of high school for at least three years.
From 1965 to 2014, the draft took place in New York City, but it has since rotated to different host cities. More than 600,000 people were on site in Green Bay, Wisconsin, last month for the most recent three-day event.
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Trump, who once owned a United States Football League team and aspired (but failed) to own an NFL franchise, followed the 2025 draft from afar. He criticized NFL owners on social media for not taking Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the first round.
“What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”
Sanders, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was expected to be a top pick but fell to the fifth round before he was taken by the Cleveland Browns.
