Kansas City business owner shares message of caution ahead of Detroit 2024 NFL Draft
(CBS DETROIT) – In what was one of the biggest weekends for the NFL, the 2023 Draft drew 312,000 fans to Kansas City. Despite that number, some small businesses say they saw a dip in sales.
"We've had much busier days just from some random volleyball convention in town than we did with the NFL Draft," said Dan Walsh, managing partner at Spokes Café and Cyclery.
Walsh ensured his coffee shop was well stocked and brought in extra staff, anticipating a constant stream of NFL fans. Instead, there were fewer customers.
"A lot of our regulars weren't around, and then a lot of the street traffic and foot traffic was not there," Walsh said.
He believes the issue was two-fold.
First, security around the NFL Draft was tight, and when so fans made it to the site, they stayed there, so there was little sightseeing.
Secondly, Walsh thinks locals wanted to avoid dealing with the out-of-town crowds, so they either worked remotely or made other plans to avoid the downtown area.
His message to Detroit small business owners:
"Just make sure your investment spending in terms of staff and inventory, probably aren't as much as you would equate to the number of visitors you hear coming to town because those visitors are probably going to spend most of their time at [the] Draft," Walsh told CBS News Detroit.
The Detroit Restaurant and Lodging Association is working closely with its members and Visit Detroit to make sure everyone can reap success from next year's NFL Draft.
"We are fielding individuals and organizations that want to buy out restaurants, that want to utilize our event space, and so I would say, you know, from the standpoint of a restauranteur myself–spark the balance if you're going to be there for just a single event how can your business also activate for different revenue streams that day?" said Petro Drakopoulos, chairman of the Detroit Restaurant and Lodging Association.
CBS News Detroit asked Visit Detroit President and CEO Claude Molinari how they will ensure restaurants in Downtown Detroit's periphery benefit from the NFL Draft.
"We're certainly going to be focused on making sure that all our businesses receive a great opportunity on this Draft, and one of the ways we're going to be doing that, frankly, is that the way the Draft is going to be set up in the heart of Downtown and Hart Plaza and Woodward is that it's going to play into the strengths that we have restaurants along on this area. Additionally, we're probably most likely going to have activations in Capitol Park, in Beacon Park, in Grand Circus Park as well so that it's going to spread out the fan experience," Molinari said.
He added that their focus would be finalizing the Draft's footprint and the exact setup in the coming months.
