Denver among finalists to host NFL Draft in 2019 or 2020

Feb 15, 2018, 1:22 PM

The Denver Broncos select Garett Bolles from Utah with the 20th pick at the 2017 NFL Draft at the NFL Draft Theater on April 27, 2017 in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

(Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

As early as 2019, the Denver Broncos could be gearing up for a NFL Draft in its own backyard.

The city is among a group of five finalists to host either the 2019 or 2020 NFL Draft, the league informed the Broncos on Thursday.

Bids for Denver, along with the Cleveland-Canton area, Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Nashville are to be considered in the coming months, per a release, and host cities for those years are expected to be announced during the league’s spring meetings in late May.

Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis said in release he’s confident Denver would be a “tremendous host to showcase the draft and NFL in a great football environment.”

“It’s a competitive process, and we’re excited to move one step closer to bringing the NFL Draft to Denver,” Ellis said.

Ellis told the Denver Post in September that the team and city had submitted a bid for the draft, and also mused that if the NFL should be open to hosting a Super Bowl at a cold weather site without a domed stadium, they’d be interested host that as well.

Several cities have hosted the NFL Draft — including Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., but New York hosted it for 50 consecutive years until 2015, when the league held the draft in Chicago.

The following season Chicago again hosted the draft, followed by Philadelphia in 2017. AT&T Stadium in Dallas will host this season’s draft.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.