Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants the Windy City to be the NFL draft's new permanent home.
After Chicago hosted the NFL draft for the first time since 1964 in 2015, the city won its bid to host the event again for 2016. Emanuel, however, isn't stopping there.
"I told my team ... yes, we've won this a second time, I said, but we're not going in like this is ours, we're going in like we're going to compete to win it a third time," Emanuel told "The Mully and Hanley Show" on Chicago radio station 670 The Score. "I said I want everybody to double down, no high-fiving. We have to go in and earn this business every day."
The draft's move to Chicago this year was regarded as a resounding success by both Emanuel and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after an estimated 200,000 fans turned out for "Draft Town," the draft's three-day, festival-style venue at Grant Park, and related fan activities. The league has announced it will develop a process to select the locations of drafts beyond 2016, and that Chicago will be among the cities under consideration.
Emanuel, for his part, is making the draft's continued presence in Chicago as much a personal mission as he made the success of the 2015 draft.
"When (Goodell) and the NFL management decided to move out of New York after decades, it was really between L.A. and Chicago, and I said look, 'Here's my number, Roger, you have a problem, an issue, anything comes up, you don't have to call 10 people, you have one number, and I'll make it happen,'" Emanuel said.
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