The popularity of the NFL draft isn’t the only thing surging.
So is demand for VIP experiences at the three-day football extravaganza, as well as the cost to secure them.
The packages, which range in price from $650 to $15,000, include seats in the coveted NFL Draft Theatre along with amenities such as food and beverage. By Wednesday, all of the packages had sold out, according to the website of On Location, the NFL’s official hospitality provider. Almost 400 all-rounds packages for $6,500 apiece sold one week after they went on sale to the public in February, said Deanna Forgione Carey, who is the company’s GM of NFL Business.
‘Over 80% of it should be accessible to fans,’ Carey said of the draft, ‘and I think we’ve seen there’s a market for a premium experience beyond that.’
The VIP packages (392 all-rounds packages sold) will generate well over $2.5 million in gross revenue, based on prices and figures provided by On Location. Add in the eight elite packages priced at $15,000 and that number pushes to over $2.6 million. It’s a modest sum for a league that made more than $20 billion in 2024. But Benjamin Posmanick, an assistant professor of finance at St. Bonaventure who has written about the NFL, said the profit represents something larger.
“The NFL is the best run league in professional sports worldwide,’ Posmanick said. “They are not only remarkably popular, but have an uncanny ability to monetize their product.’
Capacity for the NFL Draft Theatre in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is about 1,800, and 400 seats will be set aside for people who purchased VIP packages through On Location, according to the NFL. On Location also said it has a separate hospitality lounge with a direct view of the Theatre that seats about 200 people.
Tyler DePina, a representative of On Location, declined to provide exact figures for the other packages sold, saying the company is unable to share specific number breakdowns for its various events because it’s part of a publicly traded company, TKO Group Holdings.
The NFL stresses that the vast majority of people attend the draft for free, and attendance has skyrocketed. Last year a record-breaking 775,000 people attended the draft in Detroit, according to the NFL. The previous record was 600,000 for the 2018 draft in Nashville.
About 200,000 attended the draft in Chicago in 2015, when the NFL moved the event out of Radio City Music Hall in New York and took the show on the road.
NFL sells hope
The all-rounds VIP package for the 2010 draft was about $1,800, according to Forgione Carey of On Location. This year the first-round package is $3,000, the Day 2 package (for rounds 2 and 3) is $1,000 and the Day 3 package (for rounds 4-7) is $650.
‘In 2010, the event was first-round tickets, a chalk talk on Friday, a picture at the podium,’ Forgione Carey said. “And now we’ve basically created customized experiences where you’re selecting the type of seat that you’re sitting in.’
For the right price, they’ll bring in a recliner-type cushion seat, according to Forgione Carey. Who knows, maybe even set you up in that chair from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s basement, made famous during the 2020 virtual draft.
“You’re getting hospitality prior to the draft,’ Forgione Carey continued. “You’re then the next day getting a signed gift from a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. You’re having lunch at times with the same inductee that gave you the gift. It’s a much more curated, bespoke experience.’
There’s another element baked into it all, said Aju Fenn, a professor of economics and business at Colorado College who in 2010 co-wrote a paper entitled “Profit Maximization In The National Football League.’
“What they’re really selling here, what the latest thing they’re able to monetize is hope,’’ Fenn told USA TODAY Sports. “This draft, if you think about it in a way has become a sporting event in and of itself. Enough is known about the players, the participants that buy tickets and go, ‘did your team win the draft?’
“So they’re still selling that winning feeling and that’s why the draft is able to be monetized.’
While only a fraction of those attending the draft will have purchased VIP packages, hordes will buy NFL-licensed merchandise before leaving the grounds. How much does the league generate in merchandise sales during the draft?
‘I’ve never seen or heard a number on merch sales,’ said Brian McCarthy, Vice President of Communications for the NFL.
One of Forgione Carey’s hopes: That eight of the $15,000 ‘elite’ packages launched would find buyers. They did. Very quickly. Likely thanks in part to some of the amenities: Intimate Brunch with Green Bay Packers wide receivers, including Antonio Freeman, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, James Jones, and James Lofton; personalized gifts signed by Hall of Fame inductee Sterling Sharp; and an opportunity to announce a pick.
Theatre creates draw
Working to ensure that are the NFL’s Bobby Gallo, Senior Vice President of Club Business Development , and Jon Barker, Senior Vice President of Global Event Operations & Production.
In 2019, Barker produced the NFL draft in Nashville when music was added and the event took on a festival vibe.
“We’ve only seen considerable growth in the popularity of the event since ’19,’ Barker said. “And that’s driving the desire for people to think of it as an event, an event that you buy a ticket to and an event that you want to come and experience.’
Ironically, the NFL moved the draft operation out of Radio City Music Hall and then proceeded to fully operational theaters at its annual draft sites. A part of the footprint is set aside for On Location and people paying for the VIP packages.
“We’ve built it out to make sure that the experience inside the theater is the same experience that you would have if you were going to go to Radio City Music Hall,’ Gallo said. “The theater continues to grow and we continue to look for ways to expand that access.
“But the focus, 99% of the focus, is on free accessible events.’
That would be the 99% who won’t buy the $15,000 elite packages – either because they don’t have the money or the packages already have been sold.