The NFL Draft is headed to Texas.
The Cowboys will be the hosts of the 2018 NFL Draft, which will take place April 26-28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
The league announced the move on Wednesday, citing Dallas as the host after the draft instead of other bidding cities, including Philadelphia, which housed last year's draft. This will mark the third different venue for the NFL Draft in three years, including Chicago, which held the event in 2015 and 2016. Before moving it around to different NFL cities, the draft was held consistently in New York from 1965 to 2014.
This will be the first time an NFL Draft will be hosted at an NFL stadium.
"We are very excited about the 2018 NFL Draft coming to Dallas," said Charlotte Anderson, the Cowboys' executive VP and chief brand officer. "This is something we have been actively pursuing for a long time, and we are committed to having an outstanding presentation."
While all three days of the NFL Draft will take place in Arlington, the event will be spread out over the entire DFW community, especially in Dallas, where city officials have worked countless hours to bring the event to the Metroplex.
"The community leaders in Dallas have been very helpful in getting us to this point and we look forward to working closely with the NFL to raise the bar for this event," Anderson said. "We're also looking forward to showcasing the versatility of AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The stadium was designed for more than just football. It was designed to be adaptable to host a wide variety of events because of its indoor/outdoor capabilities. People in Texas believe our state is the center of the football universe, and we know we will have a great crowd turnout—not only from within our state but from fans who come from all over the country. We're looking forward to having a great draft weekend experience in Dallas at AT&T Stadium and at The Star in Frisco."
In recent years, teams have had its own representative to announce some of the second-day picks. Not only does it give the fans a chance to be more involved, but brings out the history of the game with former players and coaches getting a chance to represent their team.
Last year, Ring of Honor member Drew Pearson withstood a heavy chorus of boos from the Philadelphia fans to make a memorable announcement of the Cowboys' second round pick of Chidobe Awuzie.
