Buffalo Bills and Sabres COO Pete Gueli spoke with the media this week from the NFL owners meetings, and expressed the desire to host the NFL Draft in Buffalo following the completion of their new stadium, which is set to open Summer of 2026.
He also noted that the Bills organization has been in contact with the NFL, expressing interest in hosting the annual event.
“We're in constant contact with the league. We've expressed interest," said Gueli to WGR Buffalo. "We've kind of gone above and beyond to make sure they know that we think Buffalo would be a special place for the NFL Draft."
He went on to note that the soonest years they'd inquired on were either the 2028 or 2029 NFL Draft, and that he thought 2029 could be more realistic in terms of timeline, while not ruling out 2028.
"We've gone above and beyond to make sure they know that Buffalo would be a special place for the NFL Draft," he added. "We initially applied for '28 or '29. If I had to guess, I'd say probably leaning more towards '29 based on all the work we need to do," said Gueli. "I wouldn't rule out '28, but directionally, you're probably looking at '29.”
The NFL has often rewarded teams that build new stadiums with opportunities to host signature annual league-wide events.
Gueli and the Bills are hoping to land one in Orchard Park, and are sending a group to the draft this April to observe and learn as Wisconsin offers a relative model with a similar and comparable market.
"We're going to send a contingent to Green Bay to see how they do it. Small market, I think there's a lot of similarities, so the process is continuing," noted Gueli.
Listen to the full interview here:
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Bills' COO Pete Gueli on hosting NFL draft: 'We've expressed interest'
