North Shore and Downtown businesses bracing for NFL Draft crowds

With the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh between April 23 and 25, city businesses are preparing for a weekend of heavy foot traffic.

Pittsburgh-founded and local businesses may not be making the picks on the stage, but they’re certainly making changes for the new crowds coming into town for the 2026 NFL Draft. Visit Pittsburgh is estimating a total of 700,000 attendees over the weekend — a number that is over double the city’s population. Pittsburgh is estimated to make $120 to $200 million in economic benefit from the draft, but some businesses report feeling worried about the overflow of visitors. 

Paul Wise, general manager of SoHo Pittsburgh in the North Shore, said hosting the NFL Draft is “unknown territory” for everyone but expects rampant large crowds.

“My mindset in preparation is [that] we’re treating it like a Steeler home game — except four in a row,” Wise said. “We’re planning to be completely overrun for four straight days.”

Wise said one of his concerns is getting staff to work on time. According to Wise, most of his staff — including him — will have to rely on public transportation to get to work during the draft. The closest Wise will be able to get to his restaurant is outside Penn Station, from which he and staff will have to walk approximately one mile.

Anna Brailey, general manager of Southern Tier Brewing Company on North Shore Drive, said they have been preparing for the draft since it was announced on May 22, 2024. Brailey said communicating with employees on the best way for them to get to work was the toughest challenge to overcome.

“Most of our workers have worked out either carpooling, public transportation or staying with friends that live close enough to the North Shore that they can either ride scooters or walk,” Brailey said.

Kayla Jackson, general manager for The Yard Downtown, said the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership has made parking available to employees Downtown through a sign-up-only lease.

“[Employees] still have to commute to work during this time,” Jackson said. “Myself and my co-manager have offered carpooling and sleepovers so we can just all ride in together because [my co-manager and I] are fortunate to have a parking lease, but not everyone does.”

During the draft, the Yard has decided to open from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., instead of their typical weekend schedule. With these longer hours, Jackson highlighted how important their staff is.

“We just have been hiring staff to prepare for [the draft] and getting them trained,” Jackson said.

Billy Smalls, operating partner of Tom Watches Bar on the North Shore, said their restaurant has increased their staff by 25% and ordered more inventory to properly handle the expected capacity during the draft. 

“I had to rent tent space for outside, extra chairs, extra coolers and warmers for my kitchen — about 50% more stuff than I usually have,” Smalls said. “We’re pretty busy during sports games, but this is going to be stuff nobody’s ever seen.”  

SoHo will operate with a slightly limited menu during the draft to manage time effectively, Wise said. This will remove certain time-consuming plates to help mitigate the increased clientele.

“We run a ‘game-day menu’ during all Pirates and Steelers home games, and I’m going to utilize the same menu,” Wise said. “It differs from my full menu where I’ve eliminated two items from my menu — pizza and tacos, so it’s basically an entire full menu available for the draft,” Wise said.

Brailey said Southern Tier will also be serving a limited menu in hopes of serving everyone as quickly as possible. 

“We’ll have deliveries every day [during the draft] just to make sure we’re well supplied,” Brailey said. “We just went with the quick items that we can execute well.”

Jackson said The Yard is relying on their experience from their busiest days, like St. Patrick’s Day or Light Up Night, to manage the expected draft crowds. 

“We based our scheduling and orders off [those busiest days] and added a little extra [estimation] just because we anticipate it to be even busier than it has been on St. Patrick’s Day,” Jackson said. 

Nick Baker, assistant general manager of the Downtown Milkshake Factory, said their store is prepared to tackle the task of making extra shakes and chocolates for visitors.

“We’re treating this as another busy week, just with extra staff and line management measures,” Baker said. “We’re bringing a tent outside for extra awareness of what we do. We’re pretty excited, and we’re hoping it’s gonna be a great week.”  

Even though the population numbers will be high, Jackson said working in collaboration with her workers has been key to preparation. 

“[The process has] been ‘winging it,’ but we all have been working together in anticipation,” Jackson said.