Events

The NFL announced today a series of community-focused events taking place throughout Pittsburgh as part of the 2026 NFL Draft presented by Bud Light on April 23-25. Community events and flag football activations will uplift the greater Pittsburgh area and celebrate its rich football tradition, bringing together community members, partners and fans for a week of impact and engagement.

As part of these efforts, the NFL will also continue its commitment to supporting local businesses through the Draft Source Program, the league’s supplier development initiative that connects local and underrepresented businesses to opportunities tied directly to the Draft. Through the program, a number of Pittsburgh-based businesses have secured contracts supporting Draft operations, including roles across catering, facilities and event production. The program helps ensure local businesses share in the economic impact of Draft week.

On Tuesday, April 21, the NFL will kick off its 2026 NFL Draft community events with a greening project in partnership with Verizon, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Allegheny CleanWays and Friends of the Riverfront to clean and beautify neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s West End neighborhood.

As part of the NFL’s ongoing efforts to empower youth and support the next generation of leaders, on Tuesday, April 21, the NFL will host a special event with the Duquesne City School District to promote both physical and emotional health for local middle school students. This event will bring together two longstanding NFL youth initiatives – Character Playbook and PLAY 60 – to help kick off the launch of the new NFL FLAG-In-School PLAY 60 Champions program. NFL FLAG-In-School PLAY 60 Champions is powered through partnerships with national nonprofits GENYOUth and Action for Healthy Kids to help school districts build active, healthy school environments for youth across the country.

On Wednesday, April 22, the NFL will host its annual Play Football Prospect Clinic. At the event, top prospects in Pittsburgh for the 2026 NFL Draft will participate in a flag football clinic, engaging and connecting with local Special Olympics athletes and youth football players. The Prospect Clinic will take place at Hazelwood Green Park Field – a new, state-of-the-art multipurpose facility designed to expand access to recreation, youth sports, and community space in the Hazelwood neighborhood and across the Pittsburgh region. The new field was supported in part by the NFL Foundation and Pittsburgh Steelers. NFL Draft prospects, along with NFL Network Draft analysts Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, and Joel Klatt, will be available to the media following the flag football portion of the event.

On Thursday, April 23, Inspire Change, the NFL’s social justice initiative to reduce barriers to opportunity, will bring together the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers and local partners to address homelessness in the greater Pittsburgh area. The event will feature a care kit packing activity in support of Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net, followed by a mentorship session with youth from the Homeless Children’s Education Fund. Participants, including NFL and Steelers leadership and players, will engage directly with youth through career development conversations and community-building activities. The event will also highlight the work of local organizations, including the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Light of Life Rescue Mission, and their ongoing efforts to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Also on Thursday, as a part of the NFL Crucial Catch initiative in partnership with the American Cancer Society, Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Cal Domitis will visit UPMC Hillman Cancer Center to deliver blankets to cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Throughout the 2026 NFL Draft, onsite prospects will sign their first official autographed team jersey to be auctioned off at NFL.com/auction. All funds raised via the auction of the jersey will be donated to the player’s high school football program.

On Friday, April 24, the NFL will team up with the Bob Woodruff Foundation — an NFL Salute to Service partner — and Move United to host a USA Wheelchair Football League Veteran All-Star Game, where the USA Wheelchair Football League’s top players will play on two teams representing various military branches.

Continuing on Friday, April 24, flag football will take center stage through a special showcase of top girls high school flag football athletes. Eighty of the best girls high school flag players from across the region will convene in Pittsburgh to participate in a combine-style workout in front of college coaches to demonstrate their skills.

The NFL is also teaming up with the American Heart Association (AHA) and Damar Hamlin's Chasing M's Foundation on Friday, April 24 to train thousands of community members in Hands-Only CPR, attempting to set a world record by training 4,000 people in this lifesaving tool in just one hour during the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Throughout the week, NFL partners will also host events celebrating the Pittsburgh community. On Tuesday, April 21, the NFL and Little Caesars will bring the Little Caesars Love Kitchen® to Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard to support the organization’s efforts to address food insecurity in the community. As a part of Lowe's and the NFL’s longstanding commitment to improving the communities it serves, on Wednesday, April 22, Pittsburgh Steelers Legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis will join Lowe’s red vest associates to support the construction of townhomes in Pittsburgh’s east-end neighborhood of Larimer. Lowe’s role as the NFL’s official home improvement partner and continued support of this commitment reflects its mission of solving problems and fulfilling dreams for the home.

In addition, this year in Pittsburgh, inspirational fans, community leaders and special guests will participate in the 2026 NFL Draft by announcing select picks live on stage. This year’s special guests will include representatives from NFL non-profit partners like Special Olympics and GENYOUth, as well as NFL Salute to Service military charitable partners, the USO, Pat Tillman Foundation (PTF) and Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). The NFL will also help grant wishes for two Make-A-Wish kids when they announce the first-round pick of their favorite teams on Day 1 of the Draft.

Throughout the Draft, the NFL will recognize our country’s military community through the league’s Salute to Service initiative. During the opening ceremony and national anthem performance, the Military District of Washington’s Joint Armed Forces will provide the military honor guard, and the flyover will be performed by United States Marine Corps members stationed in New River, North Carolina and Fort Worth, Texas.

On Day 2, members of the military community will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country and armed forces through a special video package to tee up the New England Patriots’ second round pick. In addition, in between Rounds 2 & 3, there will be a special ceremony honoring our nation’s military community who are in attendance in Pittsburgh, and on Day 3, military recruits from each branch of service will raise their hand and recite the Oath of Enlistment in a live enlistment ceremony.

More information about the 2026 NFL Draft community events and special guests who will announce picks can be found below.

The Smithsonian-affiliated Senator John Heinz History Center will host the Fourth Martin R. Delany Symposium: Organizing and Activism, presented by the museum’s African American Program, onSaturday, April 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The symposium will offer presentations and panels that address organizing and activism rooted in the life, ideas, and legacy of Martin Delany, one the nation’s most influential African American leaders during the 19th century.

Tamika Nunley, Ph.D., research professor of history at Duke University, will deliver the keynote address, “At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities,” followed by a Q&A session.

In addition to the keynote address, the symposium will feature three panel discussions with visiting scholars from universities and institutions across the country. These sessions will explore Delany’s political thought and activism, Black-led emigration movements, journalism and print culture, military service, gender, and debates over freedom, citizenship, and belonging in the 19th century.

A complete list of presenters and topics can be found here on the History Center website.

Admission to the Martin R. Delany Symposium is $50 for non-members, $20 for History Center members, $10 for college students with valid ID, and $10 to attend virtually. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Admission includes access to all History Center exhibitions.

About Martin R. Delany

Born in Charles Town, Va. to a free mother, Pati, and enslaved father, Samuel, Delany lived under racial oppression but accomplished much in the years before and after the Civil War. Pittsburgh was where his education in abolitionism, enterprise, medicine, and journalism set him apart from other abolitionists, especially in the region.

In 1843, Delany became publisher of the first African American newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains, The Mystery. In the 1850s, he enrolled in Harvard Medical School and assumed the leadership of the National Emigration Convention, a decade before President Lincoln would commission him a Major of the 104th United States Colored Infantry in 1865, making him the highest ranking African American field officer in the U.S. Army.

About the Keynote Speaker

Dr. Tamika Nunley is Professor of History with courses and research focused on the history of slavery, African American women's and gender history, the early Republic, and the American Civil War. Her first book, “At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities” in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) reveals how African American women—enslaved, fugitive, and free—imagined new identities and lives beyond the oppressive restrictions intended to prevent them from experiencing liberty, self-respect, and power. In addition to being a lifetime member of the Association of Black Women Historians and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, she serves on the editorial board of Civil War History, The Journal of Southern History, and the Journal of the Civil War Era. She has served on committees for the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, the Society of Civil War Historians, and the Southern Historical Association.

The Senator John Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and the largest history museum in Pennsylvania, presents American history with a Western Pennsylvania connection. The History Center was voted as the #1 history museum in America by readers of USA TODAY (2024, 2025, 2026) and “Pittsburgh’s Best Museum” by Pittsburgh Magazine (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). The History Center is located at 1212 Smallman Street in the Pittsburgh’s Strip District. The History Center’s family of museums includes the Franco Harris Sports Museum; Fort Pitt Museum in historic Point State Park; and Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, a National Historic Landmark located in Avella, Pa., in Washington County. More information is available at heinzhistorycenter.org.

The History Center will host the Fourth Martin R. Delany Symposium, presented by the museum’s African American Program, on Saturday, April 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tamika Nunley, Ph.D., research professor of history at Duke University, will deliver the keynote address, “At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities,” followed by a Q&A session.

The National Football League announced the headlining acts for the free NFL Draft Entertainment Series presented by Bud Light in Pittsburgh, featuring award-winning global superstar Kane Brown, Pittsburgh native and Grammy-nominated recording artist Wiz Khalifa and Pittsburgh-area native Bret Michaels. All three artists will perform as part of an unforgettable three-day celebration at the 2026 NFL Draft.

“Bringing the Draft to Pittsburgh gives us a chance to tap into a city with a deep connection to football and music,” said Tim Tubito, NFL senior director of global event presentation and entertainment. “This year’s event brings together artists with strong roots in the region and renowned global reputations to help create even more memorable moments onstage throughout Draft.”

To kick off Day 1 on Thurs., April 23, Pittsburgh-raised and jazz-trained artist KELS will perform the National Anthem.  KELS toured and sold-out hundreds of shows across the country independently before her 2025 breakout single “Gone” put her on the map. Preceding the National Anthem, the James Weldon Johnson Foundation’s National Hymn Choir, featuring The Heritage Gospel Chorale of Pittsburgh, will perform the hymn Lift Every Voice and Sing - conducted by Grammy Award-winning, Dr. Jeffery Redding.

As part of the Day 2 festivities on Fri., April 24, Pittsburgh natives Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels will perform at 5:15 p.m. ET ahead of the Draft rounds 2 and 3 that evening. Multi-platinum, Grammy- and Golden Globe-nominated artist Wiz Khalifa broke through with his major-label debut Rolling Papers, led by chart-topping hits including “Black and Yellow,” “See You Again” and “No Sleep.”

“Coming home to Pittsburgh for the Draft is pretty special,” said Wiz Khalifa. “This city raised me, and the energy here is different. Being back with the fans and representing the city in a moment like this just feels right.”

Bret Michaels, iconic frontman of Poison with a multi-platinum-selling career in music spanning decades, will headline alongside Wiz Khalifa on Day 2 of the Draft, said, “I cannot be more honored, excited and fired up to be asked to perform at the Pittsburgh 2026 Draft on Friday night. As a Pittsburgh native and a diehard fan of the Steelers, the NFL and all things Pittsburgh, this is a dream come true.”

After the Draft selections conclude on Sat., April 25, global superstar Kane Brown will take the stage for a high-energy finale to the 2026 NFL Draft Entertainment Series presented by Bud Light. Following the success of his widely acclaimed 2025 record, The High Road, the multi-Platinum-selling, award-winning singer/songwriter just released “Woman”.

“The Draft is one of those weekends where you can feel how much the game means to people,” said Brown. “Fans, players, the whole city, everyone’s part of it. Being here for that is going to be unforgettable.”

This year’s artists join an elite lineup of performers who have helped bring the Draft to life through music over the years, including Tim McGraw, Eminem, Dierks Bentley, Weezer, Brad Paisley, Mötley Crüe, Ice Cube, Marshmello, Kings of Leon, Fall Out Boy, Black Pumas, Big Sean and more.

All performances as part of the NFL Draft Entertainment Series presented by Bud Light will take place at the Draft Theater adjacent to Acrisure Stadium. General fan viewing of the performances is free, and fans are encouraged to arrive early, as standing room will be on a first-come first-served basis.

In addition to the live performances, the NFL will host the NFL Draft Experience presented by American Express, the league's ultimate fan football festival that's free to fans of all ages who can run the 40-yard dash, take on football drills, meet NFL Legends, grab photos with the Lombardi Trophy and all 58 Super Bowl rings, and enjoy food & beverage concessions. Fans will also be able to take the field of Acrisure Stadium to kick a field goal, participate in clinics and activities, and watch the NFL Draft happen live onscreen. Draft Experience presented by American Express will be free and open to the public from April 23-25.

Fans planning to attend the free 2026 NFL Draft Experience should download the NFL OnePass app. Available through NFL.com/DraftAccess, NFL OnePass is the must-have tool for navigating Draft weekend and provides real-time updates, a full schedule of interactive activities, Know-Before-You-Go information, and access to exclusive digital content and prizes, including a grand prize trip for two to Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles.

NFL DRAFT EXPERIENCE PROGRAMMING  

DATE

TIMING

Thursday, April 23

12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Friday, April 24

12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 25

9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

All times are local and may be subject to change.

For fans not in Pittsburgh, the 2026 NFL Draft presented by Bud Light will be broadcast live on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes and will be available to stream on NFL+. Round 1 begins Thursday, April 23, followed by Rounds 2–3 on Friday, April 24 and Rounds 4–7 on Saturday, April 25.

For more information on the 2025 NFL Draft, including programming, special events, and registration, fans should visit NFL.com/DraftAccess.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The NFL officially announced on April 2, 2026, that Pittsburgh native Wiz Khalifa, country star Kane Brown, and rock icon Bret Michaels will headline the 2026 NFL Draft Entertainment Series in Pittsburgh. NFL Draft Entertainment Series (April 23–25, 2026)This free, three-day event takes place at the Draft Theater near Acrisure Stadium, featuring nightly performances. 

• Friday, April 24: Performances by Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels.
• Saturday, April 25: Headlined by Kane Brown.
• Access: Free, but fans should register at NFL.com/DraftAccess.

The NFL Draft Entertainment Series is a major component of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, featuring free nightly concerts at the Draft Theater on the North Shore. 

• Locations: The event is split across the Allegheny River. The Draft Theater (concerts and player picks) is located on the North Shore next to Acrisure Stadium, while the NFL Draft Experience (fan festival) is centered at Point State Park.
• Entry Requirements: Admission is free, but all fans must register for a digital NFL OnePass QR code at NFL.com/DraftAccess or via the NFL OnePass app.
• Hours of Operation:
  • Thursday, April 23: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Draft starts at 8:00 PM).
  • Friday, April 24: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Draft starts at 7:00 PM).
  • Saturday, April 25: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM (Draft starts at 12:00 PM). 

Draft Theater & Concert Series

The concerts take place on the main stage after the day's draft selections conclude. 

• Lineup: Headliners include Wiz Khalifa, Bret Michaels, and Kane Brown.
• Seating: Reserved seating is for invited ticket holders only. However, general fans can access standing-room viewing areas on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Afterparties: Additional concerts at the Plaza at North Shore feature Nelly (April 22), Steve Aoki (April 23), and 2Chainz (April 25). 

Fan Experience & Attractions

• Interactive Games: Fans can participate in the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and field goal kicks on the field at Acrisure Stadium.
• Exhibits: View all 59 Super Bowl rings at the NFL Museum and take photos with the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
• Autographs: Free sessions with current NFL players and Legends; schedules are updated daily in the NFL OnePass app.
• The Football Town: An immersive film narrated by Pat McAfee showing the region's football history at the Kamin Science Center. 

Getting Around

• Pedestrian Corridor: The Roberto Clemente Bridge will be closed to vehicles, serving as the primary walking path between the North Shore and Downtown.
• Water Transport: The Gateway Clipper Fleet will provide shuttle service between the two main event sites.
• Public Transit: Pittsburgh's 'T' light rail will run with increased frequency and is free between Downtown and the North Shore.

The Senator John Heinz History Center will host a free, in-person screening of “Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders” on Tuesday, April 7 from 6-7:30 p.m., in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

Presented as part of the African American Program’s From Slavery to Freedom Film Series, “Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders,” produced by WQED, explores the rise and fall of America’s first emergency medical service comprised entirely of Black men and women from Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood.

Freedom House was initially conceived to respond to the needs of Pittsburgh’s African American community who often couldn’t rely on police and fire departments during an emergency. Their groundbreaking work became the basis for all paramedics training in the country. However, despite its success – racism and power dynamics in Pittsburgh shut down Freedom House in 1975, leaving its legacy almost lost to history.

Featuring rare archival images, the documentary tells the story of the organization’s inception through the perspective of a founder, along with reflections from surviving paramedics, stories of the world-renowned doctors who trained them, and memories from lifelong Hill District residents.

Following the screening, the event will feature a panel discussion with film producer Annette Banks; former Freedom House first responders George McCary, John Moon, and Darnella Wilson; Freedom House co-founder and Falk Foundation President Emeritus Phil Hallen; and University of Pittsburgh Assistant Professor Jason Deakings.

The story of Freedom House has recently made national news after its inclusion in the hit television series “The Pitt” on HBO Max.

The History Center’s film screening and panel discussion are free with advance registration. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit heinzhistorycenter.org/events.

In 2025, 316,000+ Black women have had a mass exodus out of the labor force, with the national rate for Black unemployment rising to 7.7% as of February 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Primarily due to sweeping cuts in public-sector agencies, mass deportation, and federal downsizing that target Black people, especially Black women's traditional strongholds in middle-class employment.

The NAACP recognizes the intentional attacks on the Future of Black Workers and will not stand by and watch the decline of the Black economy and talented people left behind. We are seizing opportunities in our own hands and connecting available job positions with host employers. The NAACP is bringing diversity, equity, and inclusive hiring practices, while also providing equitable job opportunities.

Join the NAACP’s Virtual Career Fair, powered by TalentAlly, open to everyone, on April 29, 2026.

REGISTER: https://naacp.org/events/virtual-career-fair