NFL Draft not returning to Philly; to be at Cowboys' stadium in 2018

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The NFL Draft won't be coming back to Philadelphia next year.

The league announced on Wednesday that the 2018 draft is going the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

It will be held April 26-28.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement at the league's annual fall meeting

"Philadelphia raised the bar by taking the Draft to another level, and this new opportunity in Dallas will enable us to continue the event's evolution and grow it even further," Goodell said in a statement.

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Action News was there for the NFL Draft in Philadelphia on April 27, 2017.

Bruce B. Neumann

It's the first time the draft will happen in an NFL stadium.

Virtually every NFL city, plus the Pro Football Hall of Fame site in Canton, Ohio, has expressed interest in holding the draft now that the league moves it around.

After decades in New York, the draft was moved to Chicago in 2015 and was held there again in 2016. It drew huge crowds, whetting the NFL's appetite for taking bids to host it.

Last year, the draft was in Philadelphia at the iconic Art Museum steps. It drew 250,000 fans for the first draft held outdoors.

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Tennessee's Derek Barnett arrives for the first round of the 2017 NFL football draft, Thursday, April 27, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

AP

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