Already looking ahead to 2020 NFL Draft

Music City, USA, stole the show.

League owners at their annual spring meetings Wednesday accepted Nashville’s bid to serve as host for the 2019 NFL Draft. That city, home of the Tennessee Titans, was chosen over a combined bid from Canton and Cleveland to host next year’s draft in Northeast Ohio between the two cities, as well as other bids.

Canton is the only city without an NFL team to be considered to host any part of a draft. Plenty of work went into the bid proposal to host the draft here. That collaboration, between the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Browns, Visit Canton and the Cleveland Sports Commission, should become a template for other entities to follow for large projects that will benefit the region — be it Stark County, Cuyahoga County or other areas of Northeast Ohio. ... We saw you, too, Nashville; and we raise you another draft bid in 2020.

There is great potential in hosting the NFL Draft between Cleveland and Canton in 2020. It makes historical sense to host it here. The 100th season of the NFL will kick off in September 2019. The Centennial Celebration, which will happen Sept. 17, 2020 in the only place it can — Canton, Ohio — will take place here. Imagine what might happen in 2020 if Canton is hosting part of the draft in April, an enshrinement celebration in August and a centennial bash in September.

Hotel rooms would be filled three times. Restaurants and bars would be packed . ...

Yes, Canton can meet the challenge it faces from Denver, Kansas City and Las Vegas. As one Ohio sports icon said, “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.”

Read the full editorial from the Canton Repository at bit.ly/2LEsGvD