arbiter
JournalsAccount

The NFL draft and host‐city hotel occupancy

E. Frank Stephenson

Contemporary Economic Policy2026https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70034article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Since 2015, the National Football League (NFL) draft has been held in various cities around the United States and has been accompanied by claims of large economic benefits. This paper uses daily hotel occupancy data to examine the effects of hosting the NFL draft. The results indicate the 2015–2018 drafts had negligible effects on room rentals and hotel revenue, while the 2019–2024 drafts (excluding 2020 and 2021) had statistically significant but small effects. The paper also presents estimates for other events held in draft‐hosting cities, including NFL and other professional sports games, Formula One races, a Super Bowl, and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concerts.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70034

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{e.2026,
  title        = {{The NFL draft and host‐city hotel occupancy}},
  author       = {E. Frank Stephenson},
  journal      = {Contemporary Economic Policy},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70034},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The NFL draft and host‐city hotel occupancy

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.