Updated 4:30 p.m., May 13
The NFL Draft could be hosted at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco in 2018, said Chad Estis, executive vice president of business operations for the Dallas Cowboys.
Estis was the guest speaker at the Frisco Chamber of Commerce governmental affairs committee meeting Friday to give an update on The Star and the role the project will play in the economic development of the city of Frisco.
"We're now spending some time on The Ford Center and events and how we can activate the whole space, and we've started a discussion about the NFL Draft," Estis said.
The NFL Draft was held in Chicago in 2015, which was the first time the draft was held outside of New York City since 1965. The league picked Chicago over Los Angeles as the two finalists to host the draft after its longtime home, Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, was unavailable. Chicago hosted the draft again this year.
Moving the draft outside of New York opened up the possibility for the event to be held in other cities, Estis said. The host city for the next few years has not been decided.
"We are in a deep discussion right now with the NFL about hosting the draft at The Star...and the national exposure that the NFL Draft brings is massive, and that would be three days of all eyes on Frisco, Texas, and The Star," Estis said.
The draft, which is broadcast on the NFL Network and ESPN, is the league's most high profile event, he said.
"I don't know if there's a bigger event we could have at The Star," Estis said. "From a pure media standpoint, that could be one of the biggest things that we could potentially have."
Estis said it will be a while before the location of the 2018 NFL Draft is decided, but he said he wanted to share the information to give some idea of the things that can happen when The Star is built.