For the 37th consecutive year, the NFL Scouting Combine will take place in Indianapolis this week — but that could be changing soon. The current contract for the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium to host the event runs through next year, and in 2021, the NFL began allowing other cities to bid on potentially hosting future editions of the event.
Last year, Minneapolis was one of four cities to send representation to Indy to discuss the possibility of hosting the combine. According to an article from Front Office Sports on Monday, officials from Minneapolis and Houston have again “expressed specific interest” this year when it comes to hosting the event at some point down the line.
Indianapolis looks to keep the NFL Scouting Combine long-term—but as it continues to grow, that’s no longer a guarantee.
If the combine were to move or rotate, plenty of NFL markets could theoretically make sense as hosts.@_DavidRumsey examines potential options ⬇️
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 24, 2025
“We have talked about [the] combine,” Minnesota Sports and Events President and CEO Wendy Williams Blackshaw was quoted as saying. “We’re looking as it evolves. They’ve talked about having it more like [the] draft, like a traveling, rotating event. The thing we always like about these events is you can make it fit the personality of your market. It sounds like they are really trying to expand [the] combine. Yes, we definitely would be interested in that as well.”
The Front Office Sports article said that hosting the NFL draft is a “top priority” for Minneapolis, but they also remain interested in the combine. Phoenix and Los Angeles were both interested last year, but it seems as if they’ve taken themselves out of the running. This year’s NFL draft is in Green Bay.
The NFL combine has become synonymous with Indianapolis, and the most likely scenario is that it continues to remain in the city moving forward. But Minneapolis has recent experience hosting the Super Bowl, Men’s Final Four, and Women’s Final Four, so if a change does take place, it could make a lot of sense as a host city. Downtown Minneapolis seems to have all of the infrastructure needed to host an event like the combine, from U.S. Bank Stadium to the Minneapolis Convention Center and all kinds of hotels and restaurants.
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