Aug. 20--Rahm Emanuel plans to "double down" on winning future NFL drafts, the mayor said during an appearance Thursday on WSCR-AM 670.
"The Mully and Hanley Show's" Mike Mulligan and guest host Dan Pompei asked Emanuel to explain why he chose to pursue the NFL draft again and to handicap the city's chances of landing the event permanently.
"When (NFL Commissioner) Roger (Goodell) and the NFL management decided to move out of New York after decades, it was really between L.A. and Chicago, and I said look, 'Here's my number, Roger, you have a problem, an issue, anything comes up, you don't have to call 10 people, you have one number, and I'll make it happen,' " Emanuel said.
Chicago was awarded the draft, and the three-day fan festival reportedly drew more than 200,000 visitors to Grant Park and the Auditorium Theatre in April and May. The league put the 2016 draft up for bid and NFL officials announced plans last week to return to Chicago, where the draft will take place April 28-30.
"They discovered the NFL draft isn't a side business between the seasons," Emanuel said. "It's actually an entire energized way for fans to stay engaged in the sport and I think they themselves have been surprised because I know last year when it was first here, I think they were expecting 100 ... 125,000 -- nobody knew. ... All of a sudden, 250,000 people showed up; Saturday alone was about 150,000.
"I sent a helicopter up to take a shot of it so Roger could see the massive crowd."
Emanuel said he'd like to make Chicago the NFL draft's permanent home, but said the first Draft Town's popularity will likely mean more competition from other cities.
"I told my team ... yes, we've won this a second time, I said, but we're not going in like this is ours, we're going in like we're going to compete to win it a third time. I said I want everybody to double down, no high-fiving. We have to go in and earn this business every day."
Emanuel declined to say what new attractions or other changes the city will make for the 2016 draft.
