With the NFL Draft scheduled to take place at Acrisure Stadium later this month, the city of Pittsburgh got rid of approximately 100 trees that used to line the parking lot. The number might be closer to 80.
Either way, the removal creates a dystopian reality.
The trees were removed because it is more important to pack as many NFL fans as possible into the main stage area as possible. Fortunately, there is a plan in place to replace them before the fall.
Where is the NFL Draft located?
The 2026 NFL Draft will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Thursday, April 23 through Saturday, April 25. The schedule (EST) is as follows:
- Round 1: Thursday, April 23, 8:00 p.m.
- Rounds 2–3: Friday, April 24, 7:00 p.m.
- Rounds 4–7: Saturday, April 25, 12:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh is going utilize a split-campus setup for the weekend. Most of the festivities will take place at the draft theater and main stage on the North Shore in front of Acrisure Stadium. The fan experience, including the red carpet, will also be held on the other side of the Allegheny River at Point State Park.
Many of the city’s main thoroughfares will also be closed to traffic, like Art Rooney Avenue, West General Robinson Street and Scotland Avenue so Sheetz is sponsoring free fares on the Pittsburgh Regional Transit light rail on all three days of the event. Downtown is connected to the North Shore via the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which will be used as a pedestrian-only bridge. The Gateway Clipper Fleet will also ferry attendees from Point Shore Park to the North Shore (and back). It is going to be busy.
Somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 people are expected to attend the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. In fact, the city actually closed its schools and moved to remote learning on that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to avoid any additional issues.
Pittsburgh removed ~100 trees.
The NFL Draft main stage is located right outside of Acrisure Stadium in the east parking lot. Construction got underway at the end of March.
Assembly is coming along quite nicely!
The city even added a new cellphone tower just for this event!
However, the build-out of the main stage required a lot more work on the front end than you might realize. Pittsburgh had to remove approximately 86 trees to make room for the NFL Draft theater.
The removal and mulching process, which began on March 25, took about a week. It leaves a dystopian feel to the area along Art Rooney Avenue and West General Robinson Street.
Local photographer Brandon Heitzenrater captured the following drone video (and above videos) of the transformation. Too see the trees replaced by asphalt is rather depressing.
Don’t worry. There is a plan in place to leave the area even better than it was found!
First and foremost, the trees that were removed will be relocated elsewhere in the city with help of the Pittsburgh Park Conservancy and VisitPittsburgh. They aren’t going in the trash.
From there, city forester Lisa Ceoffe actually thinks the city will be able to plant even more trees outside of Acrisure Stadium after the NFL Draft ends.
“Instead of 57 trees going back, we’re going to be getting the inches of those 57 trees, which is over 500 inches,” she told CBS News. “Which means that we’ll be able to plant back approximately 200 to 250 new trees.”
The trees that were removed are supposed to be replaced as early as this fall. 500 additional trees will also be planted across Allegheny County as part of the “environmental legacy” of the draft in Pittsburgh.
It looks weird now but it will look even better in the future… allegedly…