The NFL draft is taking a break from the Big Apple.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday that the league has narrowed down its 2015 NFL Draft options to Los Angeles and Chicago. The event has been held in New York City every year since 1965 and has been at Radio City Music Hall since 2006.
"We're focusing solely on Los Angeles and Chicago now," Goodell told reporters in Los Angeles following a CBS Thursday Night Football panel at the Beverly Hilton, according to The Los Angeles Times.
"We had 12 cities that were interested," Goodell went on. "We felt the best thing to do was to focus on the three cities, because they had such a tremendous interest. There are very attractive aspects to each of those cities. Because we don't have the appropriate dates in May our focus is completely on Los Angeles and Chicago.
"They both have tremendous bids."
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported last month that Radio City Music Hall officials informed the NFL that the venue would not be available in April or May. Goodell said Thursday that a final decision on location could be made by the end of the summer.
Rapoport previously reported that the draft is expected to be held April 22 to 25 or April 29 to May 2. The dates indicate the draft could become a four-day affair. Recent drafts have occurred over a three-day period.
"We're talking about different concepts, primarily how to strengthen the last day and whether we should maybe push that back to the clubs a little bit more and allow the clubs to have a little bit more freedom as more of a club day," Goodell said.
"Maybe they would announce the picks from there. We're looking at everything under the sun, because there's a great interest in it and we want to do something that's more responsive to our fans."
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