NFL draft in Detroit, Day 1: Live updates as football fans descend upon downtown
At long last, the 2024 NFL draft is here. Hundreds of thousands of football fans are expected to descend upon downtown Detroit for the sports spectacle that will see more than 200 new players enter the league and hope at an all-time high for all 32 teams, including the Detroit Lions.
While the actual NFL draft begins at 8 tonight with Round 1, the NFL Fan Experience opens to the public at noon, and fans are expected to beging trickling downtown far sooner. We're covering all the action as we bring the excitement to you with live updates and visuals from Detroit.
Keep up with our live updates on what's happening on Day 1 at the NFL draft's theater near Campus Martius and at the NFL Fan Experience in Hart Plaza.
Beware: This gate into the draft zone is very crowded
The NFL draft cautioned around 5:15 p.m. that its Entry 2 on Griswold Street " is exceptionally congested and causing delays." You've been warned!
—Brian Manzullo
Crowds swell downtown streets as draft approaches
Downtown Detroit grew increasingly crowded through the afternoon.
As 5 p.m. approached, People Mover cars were packed with visitors and nearly at full capacity.
Down on Woodward Avenue, the line to see Detroit retired Lions running back Billy Sims stretched for half a block.
Romney Funderburg, 25, of Romulus, said the hour-wait for Sims’ autograph was worth it, and he plans to give the inscribed photo to his father, a retired firefighter who is a big Billy Sims fan.
“When I first got a No. 20 jersey, he asked me, ‘Do you know who wore 20?’ And I’m like, 'Yeah, Barry Sanders.' He’s like ‘But do you know who wore 20 before Barry Sanders?’ And he told me, 'Billy Sims,'” he said.
“As soon as I saw that he was here, I had to go get something for my dad,” he explained.
Funderburg also said he was surprised by the size of the crowds in downtown.
“I’m not used to seeing this many people,” he said. “And it’s not just people form Detroit, it’s people from all of the country. One of my friends is working the Draft and he told me expect at least 300,000 people here.”
—JC Reindl
When in doubt, think hoofing it or ride-sharing
If you’re avoiding the perils of driving downtown during the draft — good call!
Between traffic, limited parking, street closures, or, maybe, you plan to do a little responsible celebratory day-drinking, navigating the draft by foot or a ride-share service might be most convenient.
If traveling by taxi or through a ride-sharing service, there are designated pickup locations throughout downtown Detroit. Pay close attention to the streets listed in your app for the pickup area nearest to you, or visit nfl.com for a full list of pickup and drop-off locations.
You’ll also want to build in some time to walk to your pickup location before confirming your car to avoid missing your driver and risking a no-show fee.
—Lyndsay C. Green
Is it Gov. Tirico?
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, posing as a sportscaster in a video posted Thursday on X, filmed video of her asking more than a half-dozen people Wednesday at Gilly's in Detroit "the question that is on everyone's mind: Who are the Lions playing in Super Bowl 59?"
The answers ranged from the Kansas City Chiefs, who won the Super Bowl the last two years, to the Baltimore Ravens to the Buffalo Bills. NBC Sports broadcaster Mike Tirico, who lives in Ann Arbor, picked Kansas City.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan had a "bigger question" on his mind.
"You know, right now, my bigger question, they're letting me announce the fifth round pick, so I'm trying to figure out who they're gonna pick in the fifth round," he said as he spoke into a tiny microphone Whitmer held. "And then, we'll go deal with the (Miami) Dolphins later."
"The Dolphins. Alright, you heard that," Whitmer said.
Whitmer, who studied communications as an undergraduate at Michigan State University, wanted to pursue a career in sports broadcasting before she found her passion in politics.
Tirico told Whitmer: "I wanna be the governor 'cause I was a political science major. So do you wanna job swap?"
"We're gonna job swap," Whitmer said.
"Here we go. Bye," Tirico said with a laugh at the end of the nearly two-minute video.
-Christina Hall
$100 downtown parking
You can drive downtown in the Motor City for the NFL draft, but it’ll cost you. Downtown lots and garages charged $50 or more.
One lot on Fort Street posted a sign noting a $60 charge was nearly full.
More: 2024 NFL draft parking: You better have a plan if you're coming to downtown Detroit
Abigail Blumberg was on her way to work at Parc complaining about the surge in parking costs. She usually parks downtown and it typically costs her $12. But today she was flabbergasted by what she saw with parking costs ranging up to $100.
“That’s absolutely crazy,” she said. Fortunately for her, her workplace covered the cost of the parking Thursday.
But Blumberg said she hopes workers who didn’t have the benefit of their parking being paid didn’t have to bear the entire cost themselves.
“I really hope that they carpooled and split the cost with somebody else,” she said.
And for those taking public transportation to get downtown some had to do a bit of walking. The Qline southbound stops at Little Caesars Arena during the draft. And bus riders saw their typical commutes rerouted around downtown due to road closures related to the draft.
-Clara Hendrickson
Detroit Ambassadog draws fans
While thousands of fans pour through downtown Detroit as the NFL draft consumes the city, Tom McDevitt’s dog Bobby, both of whom live in downtown Detroit, caught the eyes of fans who surrounded the furry fellow. Bobby is known as “Detroit Ambassadog” on Instagram, and McDevitt’s goal is to highlight the city and pit bulls with Bobby.
“We make fun little social videos,” McDevitt said. “We go to all the tailgates, so he's kind of known around the Lions circle of fandom of sorts. We've traveled cross country to support the team and went to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game and met some fans out there. It was fun … he's just enjoying himself. He loves he's a people person and loves getting butt scratches is his favorite thing.”
Bobby snatched the attention of visitors while wearing a fuzzy lions mane around his neck to show his Detroit Lions spirit, allowing visitors surround him with pets and plenty of love.
“He’s a good sport. He wears that he wears work goggles and a hat every once in a while,” McDevitt said, who’s been a Lions fan for years, including their roughest periods.
“I've never thought this day would come when we would actually be good. And now we have like the highest-paid players in the NFL, that's another mind-blowing thing to think about. But I'm so excited for this upcoming season and for all the smiles that (Bobby) can put on people's faces during the during the tailgate,” McDevitt said.
-Dana Afana
Last-minute tips
Do not purchase drinks prior to entering gates. It's like the airport and you'll have to leave them at the gate.
Huntington Place has parking on the rooftop for $20.
Drink prices: Bud Light and Michelob Ultra, $15. Water, $6. Bud Light Seltzer, Crown Royal Whisky Lemonade and Smirnoff Smash Vodka Soda, $16.
There's a hydration station with water for refilling bottles inside the draft footprint at Michigan Avenue and Campus Martius.
Fans attending the NFL Draft experience with mobility disabilities can access wheelchairs at the Accessibility Center/Fan Services Center. The center is located on the lefthand side of the entrance to the draft events at Hart Plaza on the south end of Griswold.
-Brendel Hightower, Jalen Williams
Draft fans spill into Capitol Park
Fans enjoyed sun, new football-shaped chairs, good food and local vendors at Draft Day in the D at Capitol Park.
A line of mostly Lions fans and one lone Bengals fan waited for loaded mac and cheese and pulled pork from the Slows Bar B Q food truck.
The Rolling Stoves food truck hyped a smashed cheeseburger and vegan chipotle black bean burger. Detroit Girls Rock is selling T-shirts and varsity jackets. Draft Day in the D is put on by the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
-Anjanette Delgado
40-yard speed racers have a good time
Elite NFL prospects can run 40 yards in just over 4 seconds.
James Zagunis, 7, of Allen Park managed his in about 8 seconds. It wasn't quite enough to beat his friend Theo Gallmeyer, 9, but that doesn't mean James didn't give it his all: He started running a hair early and managed to throw an impressive hip check against a racing Theo, much to the chagrin and approval of the crowd.
"I just dig racing," James said, polarized sunglasses on his forehead and a Jahmyr Gibbs jersey on his back.
"He pushed me!" Theo said, adding he wanted to race to prove he could beat James.
James, Theo and a cadre of others were some of the hundreds of people who participated in the 40-yard-dash, one of the most popular events within the NFL Draft Experience at Hart Plaza. Fans waited for well over 30 minutes for their chance to sprint down and turf and dive into the mats underneath a scoreboard that displayed their times.
It's all part of experience that they just couldn't miss, said James' dad, Jimmy.
"I think it gives us obviously an opportunity to show what we have as a city, and all the fans and the great people that we have," Jimmy said. "It's good to see fans from all over the world, in Detroit."
A Michigan Man, Theo wants the Lions to take either ex-Wolverine running back Blake Corum or quarterback J.J. McCarthy. James said it didn't matter, as long as they're talented.
"As long as my team is good!" James said.
-Dave Boucher
Lions fans feel the beat
Fans encircled the Lions Honolulu Boom drumline before the team marched its way west down Jefferson Avenue.
“Best drumline in the league,” someone shouted from the crowd. They brought the volume up a few notches and then had Lions fans join them to cheer on the Detroit team.
“Let’s go Lions!” fans screamed as they grooved and took out their phones to capture the electric moment. Spontaneous chants have broken out all afternoon. Earlier in the day fans screamed out “Jar-ed Goff” in unison in tribute to the Lions quarterback.
'Happy people, welcoming people. That's what we do in Detroit.'
The first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft wouldn't come for several hours, but you wouldn't know it by the tens of thousands of people milling around downtown Detroit early Thursday afternoon.
Football fans waited in long lines to get inside the in-depth NFL Draft Experience tent, to get pizza or to throw footballs to huge cutouts of Aidan Hutchinson and other Lions greats.
Others took their pictures with huge helmets of their favorite teams — and in the case of a couple Green Bay Packers fans, to boo next to the helmet of the Minnesota Vikings.
It all boils down to a perfect day for Detroit, said Reiner Calderero, 47, and Chris Guiao, 41.
"This doesn't happen often, especially in the city of Detroit. We haven't had a big event since the Super Bowl like 18 years ago," said Guiao, of Sterling Heights. "We just love all the fans coming in from everywhere."
Even among the Lions-heavy crowd, the duo stood out. Dressed head to toe in Detroit garb, their Luchidore masks went above and beyond the jerseys or hats adorning most fans.
They're not johnny-come-lately fans, they said — although they're welcoming the bandwagon jumpers following the Lions historic playoff run. They've stood by the team through thick and thin, and now, just want to bask in a wonderful moment for the franchise and metro Detroit.
"The people coming in here from all around the world coming in here, they're seeing peaceful people. Happy people, welcoming people. That's what we do in Detroit. We're not like them other cities," said Caldereo, of Warren. "Proud of Detroit."
Guiao agreed.
"It's that cliche: Midwestern hospitality. Everyone's nice. We just want to show everyone that this city is a legitimate city to come visit, come be at, enjoy, have the energy," he said.
-Dave Boucher
A sunny, family-friendly draft day
Parents brought their children out for the NFL draft in Detroit in hopes of cultivating the next generation of fans.
Saliha Elmore, 35, of Detroit walked her 1-year-old son in a stroller on a chilly but sunny spring day in Detroit. “I heard that this was the first draft here, so I wanted to just bring him out, enjoy the weather and just experience this, and that way he can at least say that he’s been to a draft before,” she said.
While she roots for the Lions, she says that she’s not a diehard fan, noting that she’s not from Michigan originally. But she hopes her son grows up to root for the Detroit football team and hopes it will make him more connected to the city where he’s from.
She appreciated how family-friendly the event at Hart Plaza was and noted how many kids she’s seen. She said she appreciated the tent for nursing mothers. “You don’t see a lot of nursing stations at a lot of places,” she said.
-Clara Hendrickson
A working fountain in Hart Plaza and $51 T-shirts
By midday, thousands of visitors had entered the draft zone and were hanging out around Hart Plaza. The crowd was primarily male and the most common attire was a Detroit Lions jersey.
The city’s Dodge Fountain, broken for years but now newly repaired, was on and running.
“It beautiful,” said Randy Nelson, 57, of Flushing. “I've never seen it happen.”
One of the longer lines in the early afternoon was for a pop-up store selling official NFL draft merchandise, including adjustable ballcaps and novelty T-shirts priced up to $51.
John Cadwell, of New Hudson, had a friend in the line buy him one of the official Detroit NFL draft caps.
“Only reason I got one is I don’t think it’s going to come back to Detroit anytime soon,” Cadwell said, adding, “I’m the outcast wearing 49ers gear here, but having a good time!”
The afternoon was also an unofficial reintroduction of sorts for Bud Light — an official draft sponsor — and the male football fan demographic, in the wake of last year’s controversy and consumer boycott following the beer brand’s tie-in with a trans social media star.
There were crowds of men all over Hart Plaza with Bud Light cans in hand.
“This is what the beer vendor had most of,” explained Brad Jennings, 32, of Livonia.
-JC Reindl
Get a pep talk from Detroit's favorite coach
Want Lions coach Dan Campbell to predict your future? Stop by Hart Plaza, inside a a replica of Ford Field at the NFL Draft Experience. Wearing a black Lions long-sleeved T-shirt and hat, a mechanical Campbell greeted fans Thursday.
"Welcome to Detroit, draft patron. Have a great time. No seriously, welcome. OK, you can go now," he says in one response. "You've been bruised. I can sit up here and give you coach speak all day long. None of that matters, and you don't want to hear it anyway. You've had enough of that, so take your fortune and get out of here."
The fortune teller game produced small "Grit and Glory Fortunes" cards bearing a photo of Campbell with different messages. One reads: "When we hit hard times, we keep pushing forward. We know what that's about, nobody handles that stuff like we do." Another reads, "The future waits for no one. But if it's looking for us it won't have to look far because we'll be on its front porch kicking the door down."
Longtime Lions fan and native Detroiter Felicia Hodges, 47, said she heard about the Campbell fortune teller as she stood waiting in line to take a photo with the Lions' helmet near Hart Plaza. She can't know for certain what the future holds for her team, but she sees good things coming for the upcoming season.
"I am so excited. I'm very happy, because they've come a long long way. But we're going to get there eventually to that Super Bowl," she said. Over the past 20 years, she's seen the team through good and bad. "When you're a diehard fan, it's win, lose or draw. Whatever. I never waver one moment ever for all these years," Hodges said.
-Clara Hendrickson
Noon: Fans encounter team gear, barricades as draft opens
As the NFL draft kicked off in Detroit, football fans from around the world descended on downtown donning their teams’ jerseys. But most found themselves in a sea of Honolulu blue as Detroit Lions fans new and old gathered for the massive sports event to see their teams’ picks.
A heavy security presence dotted the perimeter of the fenced-off area surrounding Hart Plaza and the larger draft area as fans began lining up down Griswold Street early to enter the main gate for the NFL Draft Experience.
Cars heading down Fort Street toward Woodward encountered metal gates, forcing them to turn around and find a different route. During the draft’s takeover, downtown workers have had to alter their commutes and found their usual parking spots blocked off.
Inside the area around Hart Plaza fans took photos next to their teams’ helmets. The line for the Lions’ helmet was the longest. They stood below the Joe Louis fist facing the Detroit River, their faces beaming. Some grabbed a bite to eat a local vendors.
For those needing a break, the area included designated prayer and sensory rooms.
-Clara Hendrickson
11:30 a.m.: Qline commuters face long walks
The opening day Thursday for the NFL draft brought some unexpected inconvenience — and long walks — for Detroiters who had intended to ride the Qline into downtown.
The 3.3-mile streetcar line will stop short of downtown through Saturday, ending its route outside Little Caesars Arena.
That partial closure, although announced before the draft, nevertheless was a surprise to many of the riders on a Qline streetcar at about 9:30 a.m. Riders throughout the car groaned and complained once the conductor shared the news that the next stop — Sproat Street — would be their last.
For Chelsey Rayford, 56, whose stop is ordinarily the last Qline stop at Congress, it meant that she would need to walk a mile or so to get to work — and she was now running late.
“It’s a very big inconvenience. I think that they should have thought about the working people that actually work downtown,” she said. “If they didn’t do anything but give us a shuttle, that would have been great.”
Rayford added that she is glad the draft is in Detroit, but wishes more consideration had been given to year-round Detroiters.
“We here after the NFL,” she said.
-JC Reindl
Celebrate the Lions' epic season withthe Detroit Free Press' new commemorative book: “From Grit to Glory: The Epic Story of the Detroit Lions’ 2023 Renaissance." Order now atLions.PictorialBook.com!
Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), Twitter/X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NFL draft in Detroit: Live updates as fans swarm downtown
