Visit Pittsburgh CEO pleased with NFL draft after record-setting crowd

Visit Pittsburgh's CEO said he is ready to capitalize on the success of the NFL draft. 

The three-day event brought record-setting crowds to Pittsburgh, and the images of the city and huge crowds were exactly what Visit Pittsburgh CEO and president Jerad Bachar said on Tuesday. 

"We've already reached out to a lot of the clients we were already bidding for future events to point to this as a success story," Bachar said.

He said it's time to capitalize on the momentum of the draft. Pittsburgh is currently on a list of cities for the Rugby World Cup in 2031 and 2033, in addition to other events, Bachar said. NFL leaders were impressed with the region's performance, he added.

"A lot of their senior officials say this is one of the best drafts they have hosted in any of their previous markets, and they point to the collaboration they saw in the local market," Bachar said.

However, not everyone is happy after the draft. Some neighborhood businesses told KDKA they were underwhelmed, wishing more customers walked through their doors. Bachar said that is something Visit Pittsburgh was aware of from other draft cities and tried to let businesses know.

"We know getting ready for Pittsburgh that we're going to see some of that same outcome," Bachar said.

Moving forward, he added that there is work to be done to have businesses cash in on big events when they come to town. It was estimated that the region would get an economic benefit of between $120 million and $200 million.

"Based on the attendance numbers alone, we're feeling very confident that the economic benefit will be well within the range we were early predicting," Bachar said.

Visit Pittsburgh said it won't know the exact dollar total for a couple more weeks.