I did a road trip on Thursday for Day 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, driving from Cleveland, OH to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to soak in the atmosphere of this year’s draft setup. This was also the first time I had ever been to Pittsburgh — I wish I had more time to explore the city, but it was still a fun time.
I drove to the South Hills train stop, since I knew parking would be more affordable there ($2 for the day) and there would likely still be some parking spaces available. A sponsor had also covered
the train fare for everyone on the day. It was about a 45 minute train ride to the Gateway station, which took us close to Point State Park.
Fortunately, even though the NFL clear bag policy was in effect, they only looked lightly at my bag as opposed to inspecting every item in it up-and-close and personal (which is what happened at the Browns vs. Raiders game last year, where they did not allow my camera in). That made me happy that I was able to take my time and record some high quality video for you guys. The Point State Park area was the most enjoyable portion for me, seeing all the fans, with enough spacing and photo opportunities, as well as enjoying the river view.
Later on, closer to the start of the draft, getting over toward the Steelers’ stadium was a bit more hectic. The bus situation was chaotic (even though I didn’t say that in the video). Then, as we got closer to the draft stage area, it was just tons of bars with drunk people stumbling around, and pedicabs and bicycles zipping through big crowds and nearly colliding with people left and right. Once we entered through security on that portion, you couldn’t really see any of the draft theater (unless you specifically had tickets to that in advance), even from afar. It was getting darker, so I stuck around still for the Browns’ first pick. I saw some of the decorations on that side, such as each term’s jersey photo op, but I know I missed out on seeing the big helmets that I enjoyed back when Cleveland hosted the draft.
To beat traffic, we took the train back to the parking garage after Cleveland’s first pick. They gave me time to write some DBN updates on my phone, and right when we got to the garage, the Browns made their second pick, so I was able to do a few quick things on the site about that before driving back to Cleveland and arriving at 2 AM.
