Tucked into a report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer about the Minnesota Vikings’ ongoing search for a new general manager is a nugget about the 2028 NFL Draft coming to Minneapolis.
Is it a done deal? Not officially, but Breer indicates that an announcement is coming at the NFL’s annual spring meeting in Orlando, Florida, which is being held Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The expectation is that the Twin Cities will be awarded the 2028 draft at the meetings, so a big contingent, including ownership, will be in Orlando for that,” Breer reported Monday morning.
The 2027 draft will be hosted by Washington, D.C. and the Commanders. Pittsburgh just hosted the largest three-day draft crowd ever, and that was on the heels of Green Bay and Wisconsin receiving an economic boom during the 2025 draft.
The 2028 draft would be the biggest sporting event hosted in Minnesota since the 2019 NCAA basketball men’s Final Four. Before that, U.S. Bank Stadium hosted the 2018 Super Bowl, which came during a frigid week in February in which Minneapolis blocked off Nicollet Mall for indoor and outdoor festivities.
The NFL also set up “media row” in the food court at the Mall of America for the 2018 Super Bowl, which, as Vikings fans know, was a heartbreaker after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game. The Vikings had a chance to become the first team in NFL history to play in their home stadium for the Super Bowl, but they got smashed by the Eagles, who went on to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots for the Lombardi Trophy.
If the draft does indeed come to the Twin Cities in 2028, the expectation would be that it’s held April 27-29, with events taking place at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Mall of America, and the Viking Lakes development, which includes the team’s headquarters, TCO Performance Center, in Eagan.
The timing of the draft reveal matters even more because Minnesota’s top brass is in Orlando, so the general manager search may briefly pause — possibly until after Memorial Day (Monday, May 25).
“Without competition for candidates out there—the Vikings are the only team looking for a GM—Minnesota can afford to be patient,” Breer added. “That said, there’s also an acknowledgment there that it’d be good to get the new GM in soon so he can get started with O’Connell before the summer break commences in mid-June.”
