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By Ira Kaufman
For the Mirror
Last week I traveled to the Motor City to attend the NFL Draft.
I had previously attended 15 NFL Drafts -- all in New York City, at either Paramount Theater in Madison Square Garden or in Radio City Music Hall.
When I first started going to the draft, it was easy to get cheap tickets, and the NFL handed out awesome gift bags to encourage people to show up.
Before 1995, the draft was held, without fans, in various hotel conference rooms in NYC.
In 1980, when ESPN asked the NFL for the rights to cover the draft, the NFL thought ESPN was crazy, and Commissioner Pete Rozelle wondered who would watch it?
Since 2015, the NFL Draft has moved from city to city in outdoor fan fests in cities like Kansas City, Nashville and Las Vegas, and the enthusiasm around the world for the draft is skyrocketing.
This year's draft had a higher rating than the NBA Finals and the World Series.
It was perfect timing to have the draft in Detroit because, after nearly 70 years of futility, the Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL. Its fan base is energized, and the Michigan Wolverines just won the national championship with a team loaded with draft prospects.
The entire downtown area was part of the draft experience, with dozens of areas of food, games and activities -- like a super sized NFL carnival.
What people saw on TV was just a fraction of the entire footprint.
The NFL was planning on 300,000 attendance, which was the record set in Nashville, but Detroit shattered the previous record with 700,000 fans present for the three-day event.
It was so much fun to walk around downtown on Thursday afternoon. I was dressed head to toe in Steelers gear, and even though 80% of the fans were Lions fans, there still were tens of thousands of fans of other teams.
As you could see on TV, it was cold and crowded around the stage on Thursday, and I was fortunate to have an invite to an out-of-this-world friends and family party at the Courtyard by Marriott (the sponsor of the draft) -- which was just on the edge of the footprint.
On Friday night, I watched the draft at Gilly's Clubhouse, which was right in the middle of the NFL Draft footprint. My friend opened Gilly's a week ago, and this four-story upscale sports bar is arguably the finest sports bar in the USA.
It has great food, awesome atmosphere and tremendous service in an amazing design.
The middle two floors have the feel of a club section of an NBA arena. I watched the draft from a VIP private room overlooking the bar.
The mayor of Green Bay is friends with one of my friends. He came to observe the draft because next year Green Bay is hosting it.
It was cool to spend time with him and his operations team as they explained the planning for next year's draft.
On Saturday, the weather was a Florida-like 80 degrees, and unlike the first two nights, the draft was held during the day. The crowd was less than the two previous nights, so I was able to stand close to the stage.
Instead of hearing the ESPN commentators give their analysis between picks, the NFL had bands playing, and John Hansen of the NFL Network was the master of ceremonies and giving out prizes.
No players were at the draft on Saturday, so fans and former players announced the picks. It was funny to see the Viking and Packer fans try to announce the picks while the Detroit fans were booing.
After the picks were announced, the bands would play theme music for each city. I felt I was at an NFL game when Detroit was on the clock, or when a Michigan player was selected.
In two years the NFL draft is expected to be in Pittsburgh, and I bet astronauts in outer space will be able to see a black and gold footprint on the Allegheny River composed of fans of the six-time Super Bowl champions.
Ira Kaufman, an Altoona native, attorney and traveling sports fan, hosts IRA on Sports on trueoldiesfla.com on Monday nights from 7-8 p.m. It is also available on Soundcloud & iTUNES, search Ira on Sports.