NFL to introduce Fan Fest at scouting combine this March
While the NFL continues to consider changes to how players are evaluated at its annual scouting combine, the league is moving forward with plans to give fans an up-close look at the action.
In a memo to clubs Friday night, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Jeff Foster – president of National Football Scouting Inc., which runs the combine – wrote the league will launch a “Combine Fan Fest” in the Indiana Convention Center that “will include Super Bowl Fan Fest type activities” and be open to the general public for four days during the combine in March.
The bench press drill will be moved from inside Lucas Oil Stadium to an exhibit hall inside the convention center and be accessible to a small group of fans, who will be in bleachers next to and standing near a secure area reserved for club officials, the memo said.
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The credentialed media will be relocated to the same exhibit hall, which will be adjacent and open to the fan fest, allowing fans to view interviews of players, coaches and general managers that normally happened in an atrium inside the stadium.
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The NFL has allowed a limited number of fans to buy tickets to watch some drills inside the stadium since 2012. The fan fest concept mirrors changes in recent years to Super Bowl Media Day, to which fans can also buy tickets, as well as the NFL Draft, which is shuttled to different cities with a variety of fan activities each year.
A league spokesman declined comment on Foster’s memo, which said the NFL office “has requested that (the combine) work with various NFL departments to provide more opportunity for fan engagement during the event, both inside and outside Lucas Oil Stadium.”
The memo added: “The player schedule has been revised to accommodate these changes, as well as the League’s request to improve the player experience. Player position groups and order will not change, nor will the timing of any events where Club personnel observe or interact with the players.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what the NFL would charge for fans to attend the fan fest or how many would be allowed to attend events such as a bench press.
USA TODAY Sports reported last year that National Football Scouting, Inc., was establishing a committee to review all phases of the event, and Foster’s memo said that work continues, with subcommittees dedicated to: analytics/technology, interviews, medical evaluations, nutrition/sports performance, player selection, position drills/timing and measurements, psychological testing, and schedules/travel/player experience.
At least two changes that will take place this year: all teams will be asked to participate in the player selection process through an online vote, and each team will be allowed to add “Club specific psychological testing” if it chooses. “Additional changes in some of the key areas included in the list at the beginning of this message are still being discussed and finalized,” Foster’s memo said.
The combine is later than usual this coming year, running from Feb. 28 to March 6. The fan fest will run from Thursday, March 2, to Sunday, March 5. The medical recheck is April 13 to April 14.
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero
