Next Thursday marks the beginning of the NFL draft. The event will last from Thursday to Saturday and is predicted to bring at least 500,000 out-of-towners to the city of Pittsburgh.
While the draft itself and many of its events will be held on the North Shore, the Downtown neighborhood can expect its fair share of car, bus and foot traffic with many fans set to gather at Point State Park.
In preparation, the city has announced 38 road closures, mostly affecting the North Side and Downtown. Details pertaining to specific closures can be found on Visit Pittsburgh’s website.
Point Park made the decision early this year to operate online for the week and Pittsburgh Public schools announced they will be hosting classes online as well.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) has also made changes to their schedule, deciding the majority of buses will run on their Saturday schedule. This means reduced trips and alternative routes for some lines. Service will be cut to the 25 lines that don’t run on Saturday.
The changes are only effective for the days of the draft.
According to Deputy Chief Communications Officer at PRT, Adam Brandolph, PRT will be operating “Football Flyers:” additional buses with free fare to riders, paid for by the Pittsburgh Organizing Committee and the Pittsburgh Foundation.
Running every fifteen minutes, the buses will take off from four park-and-ride stations north, south, east and west of the city.
Although they are being added to accommodate the influx of people traveling in the city, Randolph said anyone is welcome to ride them.
“If a Point Park student lives in the North Hills and the O12 is not running,” Randolph said. “students can hop on [the ‘Football Flyer’] and be Downtown pretty quickly.”
According to Randolph, all “T” light-rail lines will increase frequency for those three days. The Blue and Red line will run every 15 minutes and the Silver line will run every 30.
“T” fare will also be free, courtesy of Sheetz.
Because two out of the three days of the draft are part of the work week, changes to the bus schedule will affect all commuting Pittsburghers whose employers haven’t switched to a flexible schedule.
Randolph recommends riders prepare their route ahead of time and expect possible delays due to heavy road traffic and overcrowding.
He said information concerning PRT schedules and real-time data including how crowded a bus is can be accessed on the ‘Ready To Ride’ app under ‘track your vehicle’ or on the PRT website under ‘True Time.’
“People have asked me if [the NFL draft] is going to cause overcrowding on transit,” Randolph said. “Yes, of course, absolutely it is. We expect it to. Are people going to have to wait longer for buses and rail cars? Yes, absolutely.”
Despite the incoming visitors potentially putting PRT at maximum capacity, Randolph said he thinks taking public transit is a better option than driving, considering the city’s limited parking spaces and notorious traffic patterns.
After taking transit changes and increased traffic into account, Point Park decided back in January to announce its decision to operate remotely for the week of the draft.
“We’re trying to be proactive and plan ahead of time so that we’re ready,” Provost Sheri Payne said.
Although classes will be online, Payne said the NFL draft offers unique opportunities to Point Park students such as a paid ambassador program, and she encourages students to attend if they choose to.
“We want people to participate in any way that is possible for them,” Payne said. “There’s so many learning and networking opportunities.”
According to Payne, the campus will remain open despite the remote learning schedule and Point Park police will still be on duty.
“Our public safety folks have been working very closely with both the city and the NFL to make sure the campus is safe.”
University President Chris Brussalis said he will be on campus for the entire week, including the days of the draft. He echoed Payne’s excitement.
“Hundreds of our students are going to enjoy opportunities working and volunteering for the draft,” Brussalis said. “It is a unique opportunity and we’re happy to be in the middle of it.”
