Ira Kaufman

The NFL Draft in Pittsburgh last weekend was awesome.

A total of 805,000 people attended the draft, an all-time record. The energy was off the charts, and Pittsburgh did an amazing job setting up the event.

I was at the 2024 Draft in Detroit and the 2025 Draft in Green Bay. Pittsburgh (assisted by perfect weather) topped those drafts with an effort that matched the success of the six-time Super Bowl champion franchise.

Even though many predicted Carmegeddon in downtown Pittsburgh, the draft planners, through excellent preparation, made it super easy to drive down, park and then exit after the draft.

I drove in from the North Side and hit no traffic, parked downtown and then walked over the Clemente bridge, admiring the amazing views of the city.

All the bars and restaurants downtown and on the South Side, where Acrisure Stadium is located, were packed with fans. The great weather allowed for tons of outside seating at the bars and restaurants.

The stadium area has changed a lot from the 1970s when Three Rivers Stadium sat surrounded by acres of surface parking lots.

Even though there are now two stadiums, a casino, parking garages and dozens of bars and restaurants like Jason Aldean’s Kitchen and Bar, there was enough surface parking area to hold hundreds of thousands of people.

One of the best ideas for the draft layout was to have the fans walk through PNC Park’s center field concourse to get to the NFL Experience carnival outside the draft theatre.

People could eat and drink at all the concession areas in PNC Park and then go to the NFL Experience carnival, filled with football games for kids.

There was another festival area on the downtown side. You could even watch the draft from inside Acrisure Stadium on the stadium screens and take a tour of the stadium.

On Wednesday night, before the draft, the NFL held a Taste of the NFL Draft Party at PNC Tower Plaza to kickoff the weekend.

I have attended the Taste of the NFL Event for the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco and Green Bay.

It is held at a signature venue in each city and combines dozens of local restaurants with tasting tables and dozens of NFL players signing autographs and talking to fans in front of each table, and has local bands playing.

The event benefits the charity GenYouth, which works to eliminate child hunger and promote exercise. It was great to meet, at the event, Steeler greats like Ryan Shazier, Levon Kirkland, Louis Lipps, JT Thomas and Willie Parker and some current Steelers such as Will Howard.

On Thursday and Friday night, I got to the draft early and positioned myself right in front of the band shell.

The highlights of draft were the moments before the Steelers’ picks, when Steeler highlights went on the huge screen in the band shell and the speakers blared Steelers anthems “Here We Go” and “Renegade.”

The crowd went crazy with hundreds of thousands of fans waving terrible towels. I took an amazing picture of thousands of fans waving their towels, while a picture of Myron Cope, the inventor of the towel, was on the big screen.

Myron passed away in 2008, but I can’t imagine a person who would have enjoyed the draft more, and I bet he had something to do with the weather being picture perfect on Thursday and Friday nights.

Another brilliant idea by the draft planners was to have Pittsburgh natives Bret Michaels and Wiz Khalifa perform a short warm-up concert before Friday night’s draft.

Wiz’s song “Black and Yellow” drove the crowd into a frenzy, and they closed to a epic rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama,” but with Pennsylvania lyrics inserted.

People with Pittsburgh ties have such pride in the Steelers and their city, and all should be proud about a weekend that showed Pittsburgh in all its glory to the nearly million in attendance and tens of millions watching on TV around the world.

Ira Kaufman, an Altoona native and traveling sports fan, hosts IRA on Sports on trueoldiesfla.com on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. It is available on Soundcloud & iTUNES, search Ira On Sports. His column appears occasionally in the Mirror.