Bomber Burger owner remembered for food, banter with customers
26 April 2023
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) – We are just days away from round one of the 2023 NFL Draft and the stage is almost set at Union Station — it is a site to see.
“The draft theatre it’s really wrapping up,” NFL event manager Kelsey Pietrangelo said.
She said that crews are working on the final touches, placing the last chairs, sound checks and checking 10,000 sq. ft. of LED panels and screens.
The NFL team also closed the draft premises Tuesday afternoon so law enforcement agencies could do a security sweep. WDAF-TV was told that will happen overnight.
The theater is where all the picks will happen at the 2023 draft. The prospects and invited guests will be sitting in the theater. There are 2,000 seats inside.
Fans will have a chance to interact with future starts.
“The commissioner on Thursday makes the majority of the picks, and the prospects are here on site,” Pietrangelo said, “and then we also bring them down on into the crowd, into that inner circle section for some selfie moments to really interact with their new club fans that are here on site with them.”
Pietrangelo said it’s the largest theatre they’ve built in the draft’s nearly 90-year history, the size of a football field.
In the city of fountains, Union Station will be the backdrop.
“Just knowing how beautiful the building is itself, we just had to make sure that we included that into the overall draft theatre, which is also why the theatre is as big as it is,” Pietrangelo said.
Crews are preparing for 300,000 people. Food and games will be south of the Liberty Memorial.
On the North side, standing room for guests to watch the draft and new this year, a chance for more than 1,200 fans to get inside the theater on Saturday – no ticket needed.
“We’ll have fans kind of all over. There will be the KC smoke show, there’s a lot of family-friendly events, but the standing room is kind of a cool way for people to be able to come in, and then they also have a chance to get pulled inside to actually one of the seats within the theater,” Pietrangelo said.
The inside of Union Station has been turned into the Green Room, where prospects will be sitting with their families. After they’ve been drafted, they’ll walk through the doors, out to the Draft theater.
Pietrangelo said some prospects will make their way into the inner cicle of the crow for selfie moments with fans.
Current NFL favorites and legends will join the commissioner to make picks Friday.
Fans will see celebrities with ties to Kansas City — including Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner.
A concert will close out the draft each night. Thursday it’s Fall Out Boy. Friday, the Montley Crew and Saturday, Thundercat will take the stage.
The main fan entrance is at the draft experience, south of the Liberty Memorial, and there is a clear bag policy.