Revisiting Kevin Costner’s "Draft Day" Ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh
In one week, Pittsburgh will see an estimated 500,000 to 750,000 football fans descend on the city for NFL Draft festivities. From April 23-25, the City of Champions will be home to fan experiences, parties, and, most importantly, the draft. Held the last Saturday of April or the first Saturday of May, one might say the draft is the beginning of the football season. It consists of seven rounds, with each team getting one pick per round. The order is determined based on the previous year’s end-of-season results. First pick for the 2026 draft goes to the Las Vegas Raiders, the team with the worst record in the 2025-26 season, while the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks will have the last position in each round.
On paper, the draft seems straightforward. Each team takes their turn in an orderly fashion, right? Wrong. The day of the draft can only be described as organized chaos. At least that's how 2014’s Draft Day portrays the events. The film is directed by Ivan Reitman, who’s also the man behind the camera for Ghostbusters, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, No Strings Attached, and more. Draft Day would be his final film as a director. Ahead of next week’s festivities, it feels right to return to the 2014 film and take a peek behind the curtain of the NFL draft.
The Draft Theater and Main Stage will be located just outside Acrisure Stadium on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. Credit: National Football League
Draft Day starts first thing in the morning in the home of Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner), the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. He’s sipping coffee and considering what he can do with the seventh-round draft pick. Sonny is fairly new in the role of GM and knows that if he doesn’t pull off some magic, he’s likely going to be fired by the end of the day. In a perfect world, the Browns would draft Bo Callahan (Josh Pence), the star quarterback coming out of Wisconsin, and the Seattle Seahawks, who have the first pick, want to make a deal with Sonny. What follows is a whole lot of wheeling and dealing as Sonny desperately tries to build the Browns into a Super Bowl contender.
Pittsburgh supremacy aside, Draft Day’s Browns are a team so easy to root for. Costner is to the sports movie what Tom Cruise is to the action film. Can a movie be considered a sports flick if Costner’s not there? In Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, McFarland, and USA, Costner seamlessly portrays player and coach in such a believable fashion. Draft Day is no different. He’s stressed, yet inherently compassionate. He loves this sport, this team, and the city he lives in, but he’s got to make something out of nothing. It sure is fun to watch him achieve that.
Whether you’re planning to brave the traffic, crowds, and chaos to join the party downtown or you’re having an at-home staycation, Draft Day is a great way to get excited about Pittsburgh’s opportunity to play an important role in the NFL this year. The draft hasn’t been held in Pittsburgh since 1949, when it took place at the Schenley Hotel, now the University of Pittsburgh’s student union. The 2026 draft will be the third time Pittsburgh has played host to this event with 1948 and 1949 being the other two years. While it was the Cleveland Browns who came out looking good in Draft Day, let’s hope it’s our hometown Pittsburgh Steelers who rise to the occasion this year.
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