NFL gives preview of red carpet stage, draft theater in Vegas

The 21 prospects invited to Las Vegas for Round 1 of the NFL draft will begin their professional football journey in grand fashion, walking the red carpet stage set up over the Fountains of Bellagio.

NFL officials gave a preview Tuesday of the stage as well as the draft theater and fan experience set up behind the Linq as final preparations were being made for the 2022 draft that kicks off Thursday.

The league’s marquee off-season event will take over the Strip in front of the Bellagio and over 1 million square feet of space behind the Linq. That’s where the likely first round picks will be shuttled to after exiting the Bellagio stage in anticipation of finding out which team will call their names.

Kelsey Pietrangelo, NFL manager of live event operations, said crews began building the Bellagio stage April 13. It stretches 252 feet, making it the longest stage ever built over the fountains.

“It takes a team to do it,” Pietrangelo said. “The company that built that stage and installed the carpet is local from Las Vegas. Anywhere we go we try to tap into the local vendors.”

Choosing the Bellagio as a key spot was a no-brainer for NFL officials as it allows the event to feature the Strip properties as a backdrop and still be within walking distance of the Linq area where the draft theater is located.

“When you’re in the center of the Strip like this, the different hotels and properties, and just the ease of location, making sure we can get our fans back and forth safely,” Pietrangelo said.

The stage will be used on the other two days of the draft for special performances from Strip shows. In addition, a drone show featuring over 300 drones displaying each of the 32 NFL clubs will be staged Wednesday-Friday.

“Las Vegas-style acts will be here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which includes Blue Man and other Cirque acts,” Pietrangelo said. “Just a lot happening down here throughout the weekend.”

The draft theater sits under the largest canopy ever built for an NFL draft and will be where the teams’ draft choices will be announced.

The draft theater is 105 wide and 220 feet long and decked out in over 1 million LED pixels, adding the Las Vegas effect. The stage features several LED screens displaying Vegas inspired images.

“We were able to create card images and card decks in a tribute to Las Vegas,” NFL Senior Director of Event Operations Eric Finkelstein said. “There’s unique 32 designs that you see with each of the teams and even the shape of the LED boards are playing card shapes.”

Fans who were invited or purchased an upgraded draft experience will be seated under the canopy. The area has room for 1,500 attendees. Behind the canopy is the standing-room-only area, where any fan attending the draft can watch the event unfold.

The NFL eyed the area in 2017 when it began planning for the draft and noted the construction of the nearby Caesars Forum convention center made a great situation even better.

“It ended up being something that was the ideal location for us,” Finkelstein said. “We planned to be here in 2020, (then) we all had to navigate through COVID and everything associated with that so we got a little bit delayed. But that just allowed us to dig in and really refine our plans and bring everything to life.”

The over 1 million square feet of event space between the draft theater and draft experience allows fans to move between the two spaces seamlessly, something that hasn’t been the case with previous drafts.

“As the draft has evolved it has become less and less of a seated event and more like a concert where people get to flow in and out,” NFL Director of Events Heather Nanberg said. “It’s really more of a celebration and a party than it used to be.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.