Big events as priming actions: Pittsburgh and the NFL Draft | Go big, medium, or little? Go for a few projects or many?

My first big professional conference that I attended was the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Cleveland in 2002, and it was simultaneous with an architecture and urban design conference.  I went on a bunch of tours and saw some amazing projects, and it seemed like many were timed to be ready by the time of the conference. 

I have past entries about big events like when the MLB All Star Game was in DC and the missed opportunity to move forward with more velocity some necessary infrastructure improvements ("Urban design considerations for the area around Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium in advance of the 2018 All-Star Game," "Sadly, DC won't show so well during the Baseball All-Star Game"), and the same about the Super Bowl, such as in Minneapolis ("Minneapolis Super Bowl: Urban Revitalization and Transformational Projects Action Planning") and the Olympics.

The reason special events like the All Star Game or the Super Bowl don't work out so well for the locals is that out-of-town visitors no longer are that interested in consuming the local experience outside of the event, and most of the money they spend: on transportation and accommodations in particular doesn't stay local because the firms aren't locally-based; although these visitors do spend money on food and drink, which tends to be the most benefits reaped by locally-owned businesses.  

The challenge is to convert the claims ("An All-Star Game in your hometown offers memories to last a lifetime," Washington Post) into reality.

But in terms of visionary projects, in my writings the problem is the difference between big and little.  This blog has a pretty expansive vision, e.g., at the scale of cities like Bilbao, Liverpool, Helsinki, Toronto and even Edmonton as discussed in a process I call "transformational projects action planning" ("Updating the best practice elements of revitalization to include elements 7 and 8 | Transformational Projects Action Planning at a large scale").

As well as the International Building Exposition (IBA) and the International Garden Festival process in Germany, where a region commits to an "international exposition" in ten years or so, planning, developing and implementing projects on a massive scale.  

IBA Hamburg Dock Building exhibit hall.

I saw some of that in Hamburg and Essen, but even in Hamburg, after ten years there were still projects to do.  Among Hamburg's projects were efforts in ten neighborhoods to do major, but holistic, development projects ("IBA Hamburg, a German approach on sustainable urban development," Construction21).

-- The contemporary International Building Exhibition (IBA) : innovative regeneration strategies in Germany, MIT thesis

The reality is that my expansive vision slams into the reality of project planning and financing on the ground.

Even ten years might not be long enough to achieve implementation--e.g. one such project in Hamburg was rebuilding a highway along side major rail lines, in order to recapture space and reknit communities that had been ripped apart by highway building decades before.

And that's one project.  Imagine working on several big projects simultaneously.  Competition for labor and materials drives up costs.

And with the time frame presented by the event owner like the Olympics or FIFA--they don't provide enough time to build major projects in democracies, which require a public process although they seem to have an easier time of it with autocracies.

Even the Milano-Cortina Olympics found them still building the hockey arena days before the Opening Ceremony (and interestingly, the Washington Post had an article, "The biggest sporting event in Milan on Saturday wasn’t the Olympics," about how soccer there still mattered a lot more.

Anyway, maybe I should compromise amongst three choices:

1.  Think IBA and IGF and minimum of 10-15 year time frames that can extend  even further (Hamburg converted its IBA project into a community development corporation charged with finishing all the projects IBA had conceptualized.).

2.  Maybe a big project or two, but mostly small ones.

3.  Small projects only.

But definitely, if you don't do much in response to the opportunity you won't get much real economic return  ("Panini Chowdhury: Pittsburgh can use the NFL Draft to change the city").

Mega-Events, Modest Returns. Independent research finds that projected windfalls routinely overshoot reality, with the spectacles having little sustained effect on metro employment or fiscal trends. The pattern of short-term visitor spending and long-term budget hype repeats from Super Bowls to All-Star Games to drafts.

Leading sports Economists like Victor Matheson find that while host cities often project hundreds of millions in windfalls from mega-events, the actual net gains are usually only 10 to 25% of forecasts, with little to no long-term impact on jobs or regional GDP. In reality, host cities rarely recover the full costs of staging an event like the NFL Draft, once expenses for public safety, public works, infrastructure upgrades and staff hours are accounted for.

That’s why Pittsburgh must look beyond the party. The city (and the region) must make changes in policies and practices that will improve the Draft event but have a positive long-term effect on life here.

Crowds fill an area outside of the draft stage during the second round of the NFL football draft, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Definitely (3) is the case for the NFL Draft.  I am still skeptical of the reports about how it is an economic boom ("San Francisco is not Santa Clara: How Santa Clara/San Jose are poorly represented by Super Bowl programming, even though it's home to the event").

I mean, is Pittsburgh really going to have 700,000 visitors from it ("As NFL Draft in Pittsburgh gets closer, registration for fan experiences opens," "How the NFL Draft exploded from hotel ballrooms to a massive outdoor spectacle," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "NFL draft attendance record set with more than 775,000 fans attending the event in Detroit," AP).

The reality is that my job isn't to be skeptical (well it is) but to figure out how to best leverage the revitalization potential of such events.  

It it helps a community to bring about inward investment on improvements to infrastructure and placemaking, you would be foolish to not take advantage of the opportunity.

That's what Pittsburgh is doing.  The NFL Draft Day Event is April 23-25.  

In the meantime, projects like a 100 foot fountain at Pointe Place Park ("Point State Park fountain reaches over 100 feet — just in time for the NFL Draft," PPG), refurbishment of downtown parks ("New riverfront park completed, the first of several Downtown projects to wrap up ahead of NFL Draft," PPG) and a number of other improvements are coming on line ("Pittsburgh unveils branding and color strategy for 2026 NFL draft").

From the park article:

Riverlife broke ground on renovations in April 2025. Over the past year, the group has replaced the park’s weathered surface with new, bluestone pavers, removed struggling plants and planted 35 new trees. Riverlife also expanded open areas to create space for small pop-up events and upgraded the park’s lighting.

“What you're seeing is a space that is now truly accessible,” Riverlife President and CEO Matthew Galluzzo said, flanked by the Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson bridges at the front of the new space. “It's more resilient and more welcoming.”

The $5.4 million renovation is the first in the park’s three-decade history. The space was once a “6-foot concrete sidewalk,” said Laura Solano, a partner with the New York-based architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Working with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Ms. Solano helped transform it into one of Downtown Pittsburgh’s first riverfront parks in the 1990s. “Do-overs in life are just so rare, and yet here we are in the reimagined and incredibly beautiful upper level park,” she said.

The article also discusses other projects.  Maybe I can criticize them as being small and ephemeral.  After all, I argue that all projects need to be conceptualized as part of a bigger whole, creating and connecting and building a larger path of improvement.  For example, the park project is part of a larger project aimed to fill in open space gaps across the Downtown.  

In a few weeks, Arts Landing, the new outdoor venue, will open to the public behind the Allegheny Riverfront Park. Crews on Thursday filed in and out of the construction site, where an arched, white canopy hovers atop a bandshell at the tip of the 4-acre complex.

Soon after, a revamped Market Square will be unveiled, with expanded space for outdoor dining and a new open-air pavilion.

And across the Golden Triangle, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will complete more than 100 different “vibrancy” projects before the end of the month, including new, pop-up retailers, window displays in vacant storefront and sidewalk repairs.

... The park’s completion comes just over a month after Riverlife and the city of Pittsburgh launched a new initiative to provide different organizations with resources for riverfront trail and park maintenance. Through the program, several riverfront trail cleanup events will be held before the NFL Draft, focusing on areas expected to see the most foot traffic during the event, Mr. Galluzzo said.

"Railroad trestles at Strip District entrance will be painted black and gold for NFL Draft"

Conclusion.  Pittsburgh might disagree but I'd argue that they chose the "small projects only" route.  The thing is that all the small projects contributed to a greater plan, so that the cumulative impact is greater than evaluating on a project by project basis.

Going forward, the trick is to sustain, build upon, and continue the momentum ("The NFL Draft gave Downtown a deadline. Now, leaders are eyeing the future," "Editorial: Pittsburgh prepares for its Draft Day close up").  From the editorial:

But if the last weekend in April is to be worth the effort and resources that are going into it, the extravaganza will also have to be a beginning. The Pittsburgh that emerges on the other side of the draft cannot be the same city that was chosen two years ago. Projects, programs and policies designed to make the city ready for tourists and television cameras should, if successful, be made permanent. And the national limelight must be leveraged for long-term gains to the city’s economy and reputation.

Like the title of the The The song, "Life is What You Make It?"  Pittsburgh shows that you can leverage such events for long term improvements.  

“It gave us a deadline,” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said at the meeting. “It helped us meet goals we didn’t know were possible.”

Other places and past experience show that not doing taking that approach fails to generate multiplicative improvements, inherently reducing the return on investment.

Multiple paths to success.  Although big multiple projects for places like Bilbao, Liverpool, and Edmonton have also been good approaches.  And the "Metropolitan Area Projects" approach in Oklahoma City ("Change isn't usually that simple: The repatterning of Oklahoma City's Downtown Streetscape").

It shows that there isn't "one best approach, one best fix."

WRT the plethora of projects in Pittsburgh, also see:

-- Litter reduction: "New initiative — dubbed the ‘Immaculate Collection’ — aims to clean up Pittsburgh ahead of the NFL draft"

-- Outdoor vending: "As NFL Draft nears, city adds new outdoor vending locations in Downtown"

-- Draft beer bar crawl: "PicksBURGH is cranking the NFL Draft to 11 with a music crawl and more"

-- Road and public space improvements: "Pittsburgh begins $16.3 million street paving with NFL Draft focus: Downtown streets around Market Square, Arts Landing get first attention" and "Ahead of the NFL Draft, Pittsburgh is getting a facelift — and officials say changes are here to stay"

-- Speculation about special out of sight out of mind approaches to homelessness: "NFL Draft in Pittsburgh could be 'incredibly difficult' for those experiencing homelessness, advocates say"

-- Free transit sponsored by the Scheetz convenience store chain: "The T will offer free rides during NFL Draft weekend in Pittsburgh with a boost from Sheetz," also "PRT gets $350,000 to expand bus and light rail service for NFL Draft weekend" and "How Pittsburgh transit and city leaders plan to move 500,000+ visitors around the NFL Draft"

-- Ongoing development in the stadium district: "Ahead of the NFL Draft, Pittsburgh's North Shore is changing rapidly"

-- Leveraging the event: for running "Course map for 5K during NFL Draft in Pittsburgh released" and improvement of the presentation of history, "Fort Pitt Museum to close for upgrades ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft"