The Draft, the Beer, and the Burgh

Apr 22
2 min read

Updated: 19 hours ago

The return of the NFL Draft was pretty significant, as it had last been hosted in Pittsburgh in 1947. Back then, picks were made by team leaders writing names on a chalkboard. No million-dollar celebration, no stage, no crowd. In December of 2025, I was pretty focused on a passion project, finding a way to catalog my dad's novelty hats. Looking back, the connection between these two ideas, football history and personal archiving, feels less random than I originally thought. Both came from a desire to preserve moments in time.

I started thinking less about the Draft and more about everything surrounding football in general: the fans, the beer, the watch parties, the tailgates, and the shared rituals, and the spaces that bring people together.

This year in Pittsburgh, the NFL Draft was the main focus, with Bud Light sponsoring the event. This poster became a form of promoting local breweries that host the city's sports culture year after year. The 11x17 poster itself is a timestamp of Pittsburgh’s brewing culture during the NFL Draft’s return to the city, 79 years later. It was meant to be something that invites you to slow down and admire something from a different point of view.