Sporty Stuff

NFL ramps up draft picks with a Bachelor-worthy event in Arlington

A music stage will feature performances by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Cowboys

Like some mash-up of football and The Bachelor, the 2018 NFL Draft is coming to AT&T Stadium in Arlington on April 26-28.

This is the first time the draft will take place at an NFL stadium — and also the first time it will air on broadcast television, with Fox and NFL Network carrying a simulcast featuring personnel from both the NFL Network and Fox Sports.

Watching games is not enough; you can now see who gets the rose. This will enable football fans to view team selections in-person and attend what a release calls the league's largest free football festival.

Admission is free with registration, at NFL.com/FanMobilePass. The opportunity to win free seated tickets inside the NFL Draft Theater closed on March 14, but registration remains open for NFL Draft Experience presented giving fans a chance to win standby theater tickets.

NFL senior VP Peter O'Reilly says in a release that they're taking the event to another level.

"By collaborating closely with the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Sports Commission, we are creating a record number of free experiences and enabling the largest live audience ever to view the NFL Draft," O'Reilly says.

"We are thrilled to host the 2018 NFL Draft and bring together football fans from not only Texas, but also the entire country," says Charlotte Jones Anderson, VP/brand officer of the Dallas Cowboys.

"For those who believed last year's NFL Draft created an amazing atmosphere, just wait until this year's event," said former Dallas Cowboys player Drew Pearson, calling it the "largest free football festival in league history."

For those who have no idea what happened at last year's NFL Draft, it took place held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which ugh, a museum? Seems totally off-brand. Player selections were announced from an outdoor theater; it was the first time an entire NFL draft was held outdoors.

For the 2018 version, the NFL is creating a larger-than-life atmosphere by transforming the areas inside and outside of AT&T Stadium, with a Draft Theater that will be built on the field, creating opportunities for more fans than ever to watch the event live and in-person.

New this year, all 32 teams will send some of their most passionate fans to sit in the "Inner Circle," an exclusive area for select fans to watch from seats on the field. This special area will feature team rivalry zones; chances to celebrate the picks with NFL players and Legends; and opportunities to showcase team spirit on national television. You might get to be on TV.

A "selection square" will be located inside the theater and feature team tables where representatives from each club will make their selections throughout the three days.

There will also be an exhibit space spanning the size of nearly 26 football fields, with immersive games, virtual reality experiences, free player autograph sessions, and more.

If you register for a "Fan Mobile Pass," you get to enjoy an enhanced experience, with a personal scan code that gives you exclusive access to NFL Draft Experience attractions, and have the chance to receive standby tickets to the NFL Draft Theater.

The games area includes competitions where you can come to terms with the fact that you are completely unfit to be a football player yourself. They include:

Vertical Jump, where you jump as high as you can and hit the corresponding flag to discover your vertical reach just like at the NFL Scouting Combine
40-yard dash, where you race down the field against your opponents and digital NFL players on a giant 40-yard long LED wall
Hail Mary, where you test your long-distance accuracy by throwing a deep pass over defenders into a drop-in net
NFL Training Camp, where you race through a series of obstacles and train like a pro.
Touch Pass, where you master one of the most difficult throws for an NFL quarterback by throwing the ball on an arc over a defensive player and into a net
FedEx Air Challenge, where you test your passing accuracy on specially designed targets.

The NFL PLAY 60 Zone is only slightly less demanding, but it's for kids. It includes:

Gear Up & Go: Try on NFL equipment and feel what it’s like to get dressed for gameday
Kids’ Extra Point Kick: Test your ability to kick a field goal through scaled down NFL uprights
Kids’ Long Snap: Test your ability to snap the ball like a pro
Kids’ Quarterback Challenge: Test your passing skills

There's also an app station, obstacle course, videogame area, and on-field clinics, open to kids from 6-17 years old.

Other attractions include autograph sessions; photo ops with Super Bowl trophies and with oversized helmets; and a replica locker room you can visit. Will it smell sweaty?

A music stage will feature appearances by NFL team mascots, cheerleaders, drumlines and local musical talent, and you can buy beer from the Bud Light Ice House. You can also visit the NFL Museum with all of the features that entails.

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Sprawling Celina

This booming Dallas suburb is the No. 1 fastest-growing city in U.S.

Facebook/City of Celina

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Small cities in big Texas metro areas were the fastest growing municipalities in the United States last year, and the Dallas suburb of Celina ranked No. 1 in the country, followed closely by other DFW cities.

Celina, Princeton, Melissa, and Anna — all part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex — were the Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 fastest-growing U.S. cities with populations of 20,000 residents or more from mid-2024 to mid-2025, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In general, smaller communities in the South, such as these, outpaced the rest of the nation, which has experienced a population slowdown since the start of the immigration crackdown last year, according to figures released Thursday, May 14.

Fulshear, in metro Houston, was the second-fastest growing U.S. city. The five Texas cities' year-over-year growth rates ranged from almost 15% to almost 25%.

In pure numbers, Celina, with only 64,000 people, grew by more residents — 12,700 — than Seattle and Houston, cities that are 12 times and 37 times larger respectively.

Small- to medium-sized cities hit a sweet spot between the largest U.S. cities, which were most impacted by the loss of immigrants from the crackdown started last year during the second Trump administration, and anemic growth in small towns, according to Matt Erickson, a Census Bureau statistician.

Texas cities dominate
Nine out of 10 of the largest population gainers in pure numbers were cities in the South because of a healthy job market and its comparative affordability. The biggest numeric gainers were Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Celina.

Fort Worth leaped over Jacksonville last year as the 10th most populous U.S. city, putting four Texas cities in the nation's top 10 most populous, with the other cities being Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Austin skipped over San Jose for the 12th most populous spot, as Texas’ capital city surpassed 1 million residents for the first time. It is now one of a dozen U.S. cities with 1 million residents or more.

Seattle was the only non-Southern city to crack the top 10 in numeric population gains last year, at the No. 5 spot.

What's driving population losses
The two cities with the greatest rates of population loss last year — Twentynine Palms, California, by Joshua Tree National Park and Key West at the southern tip of Florida — were in places with tight housing markets. Their losses ranged from -2.4% to -2.9%.

In Twentynine Palms, a large chunk of the housing stock has been converted into short-term rentals for tourists heading to the national park. Just under 40% of its housing is occupied by its owners, compared with the national average of 65%, according to Census Bureau figures.

Hemmed in on all sides by water, the limited housing stock in Key West, as well as some of the highest home insurance rates in the U.S., have driven up housing costs for the Conch Republic. The median price for a home in Key West was $1.3 million at the start of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Other cities that had some of the biggest rates of population loss last year were hit by natural disasters.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida’s Gulf Coast within weeks of each other in late 2024. Remnants of Helene blew through western North Carolina, leaving behind damaging tornadoes and flooding. Among the cities with the greatest rates of loss were Asheville, North Carolina, and several cities on Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Largo and Clearwater.

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