The NFL Draft will turn the Benjamin Franklin Parkway into a massive outdoor festival

For three days in April, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be transformed into a free, outdoor festival for this year’s NFL Draft.

Mayor Jim Kenney was on hand yesterday at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the announcement, offering a sneak preview of the NFL Draft, which will take place from April 27 to 29.

Here are a few things things to expect and know about the draft and outdoor festival, which is expected to cost $20 to $25 million (mostly covered by the NFL):

The whole event will be the size of 25 football fields

It will take up the entire Parkway and is expected to draw an estimated 200,000 fans.

The Parkway will feature the draft’s first-ever outdoor theater

This will allow “more fans than ever before” to view the first round draft picks. But you’ll need a ticket to grab one of the 3,000 seats in the theater. A lottery will open on the NFL Draft website next week.

The outdoor festival will be free

If you don’t get a ticket, the rest of the festival will be standing-room only and free. This portion will be open before and during the draft.

And there will be plenty to do besides watching the draft

The outdoor festival will be pretty interactive: There will be “Combine Corner,” where you’ll be able to test your football skills with races and vertical jump contests, replica NFL locker rooms, an NFL Museum, and a college football corner.

Drafted players will walk up the art museum steps

Cue the “Rocky” music: Once players are drafted, they’ll take a walk (or run?) up the iconic art museum steps, CBS reported when the draft was first announced last September.

• NFL Draft [PHL CVB]
• NFL To Create Largest Free Fan Experience Ever For 2017 Draft In Philly [CBS Philly]
• 200,000 fans expected in Philly for NFL draft [Philly.com]