DETROIT (WXYZ) — From restaurants to boutiques to pop-up stores, businesses in downtown Detroit are preparing to rollout the red carpet for those coming for the NFL Draft.
On Monday, we are 30 days out from the big day on April 25. As we head into the fourth quarter of preparations for the draft, businesses are ready for kickoff.
At BESA Detroit on Woodward Avenue near Congress Street, where the motto is “Our guests before ourselves,” co-owners Gerti “Big-guy” and Chef Nick Geftos opened their doors to give me a preview of their NFL Draft day offerings.
“New Year’s Eve is our biggest night of the year,” Geftos said. That time stretch for the NFL Draft is going to be as big as that or hopefully even bigger — back to back to back.”
Massive steaks, succulent seafood and luscious lamp chops are on the menu.
With seating for 120 people, they offer fine dining with a European flare. They also have a lounge and private dining on the lower level, complete with a wine cellar.
“The local, bigger businesses are going to come down. And then also to be available for the diners from out of town, diners locally that are just down here to take in all the experience,” Geftos said. “So, we’re ready to go. We’re ready for it.”
Hear from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about her excitement for the NFL Draft below:
Over at the historic The Corner Ballpark, operated by the Police Athletic League, they too are hoping to score a touchdown. CEO Fred Hunter says this field of dreams will be transformed for the NFL Draft.
“It’s a huge opportunity, talk about 300,000 people coming. And for PAL, we’ve done football for 55 years. So for us it’s special because our coaches, our volunteers and our kids love football. We’ve got 17 PAL alums that were on the 2023 NFL rosters,” Detroit PAL CEO Fred Hunter said.
In 2018, $20 million went into transforming the old Tiger Stadium into a sports history mecca for PAL, an organization that has impacted 350,000 young lives since 1969.
Their hope is once visitors see the soon-to-be NFL Draft field, they will leave with a lasting new impression of the city.
“We’re excited because there’s so many NFL cities are close, within driving distance, so they’ll be coming out. And it’s just an opportunity to showcase Detroit,” Hunter said.
Lastly, we visited Born in Detroit, a pop-up store created just for the NFL Draft.
There’s no doubt with the popularity of Detroit growing from our Lions pride and more visitors, they will want to take a piece of Motor City memorabilia with them. And what would be better than something that says “Born in Detroit.”
VIDEO: Learn more about the pop-up stores including Born in Detroit that will be open for the NFL Draft:
“They definitely want to take something home, so we have a variety of different things," Born in Detroit COO Adam Targanski said. "So regardless of whether you were born in Detroit or not, we do have items that simply just say Detroit or it’s a little more subtle …”
NFL Draft activities will be happening across Detroit including at businesses and could bring hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to the city.
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