D.C.’s bid to host the 2027 NFL draft envisions staging a significant portion of the three-day event on the National Mall, according to planning documents and emails obtained by Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske of The Washington Post.

The correspondence, acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Park Service (NPS), provides insight into what local organizers have internally referred to as “Project Breeze.”

Representatives from Events DC — the convention and sports authority for the District — and the NPS, which administers the National Mall and monuments, have been in discussion with NFL executives for months about the possibility of holding the three-day event in the District, the emails show.

In an April message to NPS executives and Beverly Perry, a senior adviser to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), NFL Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs Brendon Plack confirmed D.C. “made a bid for a big NFL tentpole event in 2027” and “ideally” the NFL would like to hold the event on the National Mall.

In January, Jeffrey Reinbold, the superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks for NPS, wrote to Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, in support of the bid.

“The National Park Service has provided a letter of support to Events DC (the organization in negotiation with the NFL) for the NFL draft ‘to the degree that portions identified to take place on the National Mall can be organized and managed within the special event, sponsor recognition, and turf management guidelines in place for this iconic cultural landscape,’” NPS chief of communications Mike Litterst said in a statement.

The NFL, the Washington Commanders and Bowser’s office declined to comment on Washington’s effort. Events DC did not respond to requests for comment.

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