Draft Day Experience Raises Funds for Hall of Fame Village

The locations for future NFL Drafts haven’t yet been announced, but Hall of Fame Village might be enticing enough for NFL officials to move the draft to Canton, Ohio when it’s finished in a few years.
 
Last night the East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council and the Pro Football Hall of Fame hosted the inaugural Draft Day Experience, which raised money for the HOF Village project. The sold-out event raised $50,000 which will be used to help fund Legends Landing, an assisted living facility for former players.
 
Football fans of all teams were able to watch the 2016 NFL Draft on four large projector screens with surround sound and enjoy food and drinks at the McKinley Grand Hotel. Mixed throughout the crowd was Gold Jacket and legendary Green Bay Packers linebacker Dave Robinson along with NFL Legends Don Cockroft, Anthony Griggs, Jeff Hartings, Marv Kellum and Felix Wright. The former professional football players signed autographed for fans and participated in a roundtable discussion in which they provided insight to this year’s draft and talked about their careers.
 
Robinson was proud to be a part of the special event. He even lobbied for the NFL draft to be held in Canton in the near future when Hall of Fame Village is complete.
 
“Canton, Ohio is where it all started,” shared Robinson. “This is the beginning right here for football. And for these young guys coming out of college – there whole life is beginning.”
 

Bring the #NFLDraft to Canton? @packers Gold Jacket Dave Robinson likes the idea. pic.twitter.com/oaLqdDgw7u

— Pro Football HOF (@ProFootballHOF) April 29, 2016

According to Dave Kirven, the President of the East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council, the goal will be to host this event every year to help raise money to have the Village complete by the time the draft is held in Canton, Ohio.