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Similar to the NFL Draft, the NFL planned to potentially move its scouting combine between different cities starting in 2023. Indianapolis has been the host city for the NFL Scouting Combine since 1987.
But those plans aren’t coming to fruition just yet. The NFL announced at the league’s spring meetings in Atlanta on May 24 that the combine will be held in Indianapolis in 2023 and 2024.
Dallas and Los Angeles were the two other cities that applied to host the event in 2023.
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NFL Continues Tradition of NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis
The NFL has broken quite a few traditions since Roger Goodell became commissioner in 2006. Most notably, the league stopped hosting its draft at Radio City Music Hall or Madison Square Garden in New York City.
New York held the NFL Draft for 49 straight years from 1965-2014. It was held in a theater at MSG or at Radio City Music Hall every year but one from 1995-2014.
But the draft now changes its location on a yearly basis, receiving bids from potential host cities.
The draft also no longer takes place entirely in one day. In 2010, the NFL moved the first round into a primetime slot on Thursday. The second and third rounds also take place in primetime on Friday.
Under Goodell, the NFL moved the Super Bowl to a cold weather location without a dome stadium for the first time — New York/New Jersey — in 2014.
Mickey Shuey of the Indianapolis Business Journal was the first to report in June 2021 that the NFL was exploring changing its combine location after 2022. NFL Insider Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported on Oct. 26 of last year that Indianapolis, Dallas and Los Angeles submitted bids to host the combine in 2023.
In March, senior writer Lindsay Jones of The Athletic shared on Twitter that she expected Indianapolis to win the 2023 bid. But with the city also named the location for the combine host city in 2024, it appears the league is second guessing moving the the combine away from Indianapolis.
The decision to keep the combine in Indianapolis for the next two years pleased Colts owner Jim Irsay. In April, he called potentially moving the NFL Combine away from Indianapolis “inappropriate” and “disappointing.”
Small Changes Coming to 2023 NFL Combine
Although the NFL Scouting Combine will stay in Indianapolis, there will be some small changes to the event.
NFL reporter Ari Meirov of Pro Football Focus reports Indianapolis will add a combine fan experience outside of Lucas Oil Stadium. Similar to what’s held in the Super Bowl host cities, this experience will be for fans to enjoy prior to the rookie prospect workouts.
Digital content producer Andrew Smith of WRTV Indianapolis reports the NFL Scouting Combine in 2023 will also include a legacy program “focused on mental health.” The Irsay family, along with a group called Kicking the Stigma, will lead the program.
Reaction to Indianapolis Landing the 2023 & 2024 NFL Combine
Irsay tweeted his pleasure in seeing the NFL combine stay in Indianapolis for the next two years. But he hardly had the only positive reaction to the news.
From prospects to front office executives and media personnel, members from across the league consider Indianapolis an ideal location for the combine because of its central geographic location in the country and Lucas Oil Stadium. An indoor facility for workouts at the NFL Combine is practically necessary with it taking place in late February and early March.
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