DETROIT – We now know how many people traveled to Detroit for the NFL Draft, and how much money that brought to the city.
A study by Dr. Patrick Rishe, director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis, examined the economic impact of the draft on Southeast Michigan.
The study focused on the “local regional economy” of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties during the 2024 NFL Draft, which took place in Downtown Detroit.
According to the findings, there were 775,000 attendees, and 30.2% of them traveled at least 100 miles. That means 234,050 people traveled at least 100 miles to take in the draft in Detroit.
The economic impact from those visitors totaled about $161.3 million, the study says. That’s about three-quarters of the draft’s total economic impact of $213.6 million.
Those 234,050 visitors included fans from all 50 states and more than 20 countries. One person even traveled more than 11,000 miles from Australia, according to the study.
Hotels in Detroit were 84% full the Wednesday night before the first round, 92% full the night of the first round, 85% full the night of the second and third rounds, and 74% full the night of the final four rounds.