Philly ready for some more football draft, Kenney says

The deconstruction of all the staging on the Philadelphia Museum of Art area continues, but there is a possibility that the NFL draft could return to Philadelphia for another round of picks.

The city’s chief executive would sign off on a replay in an instant.

If the NFL wants to exercise its option for another NFL draft here next year, Mayor Jim Kenney said the city is willing to take on the massive event again.

“It was a great event, if we were offered it again, yes,” he said Monday.

Kenney says fans were well-behaved … for the most part.

“Everyone got along, everyone had a good time, there was some good-intentioned ribbing that went on that went back and forth, but everyone seemed to really enjoy everyone else’s company,” he said. “It was a very family-friendly event — lots of grandparents and grandkids and moms and dads. Everyone was being healthy, running the 40-yard dashes and throwing and kicking footballs. It was a very good event.”

Philadelphia Eagles broadcaster Merill Reese said he was impressed by the show and the three-day festival that went along with the draft.

“I thought the crowd was electric, the crowd was very into it. They showed that this is one of most passionate fan bases in the entire country,” Reese said. “They loved NFL football, they were excited to have the NFL draft here, and I thought it was just an enormously successful event.”

SEPTA officials said ridership on the subways was up 7 percent  from April 27 through April 29 compared to the same days in April 2016 during the Penn Relays.

And if the people in neighborhoods around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — who referred to it as “NFHell”  through this process — thought this was the end, it’s not going to get better soon.  Jay-Z has announced he will be the headliner for the Made in America Concert for Labor Day Weekend.