Did you catch night one of 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City? It was a celebration of KC

Over the years after his arrival in Kansas City in 1938, the legendary Buck O’Neil liked to say this about his adopted hometown: “I knew I was coming to the Heart of America; I didn’t know I was coming to the center of the universe.”

If only he could have seen it during the spectacle of the 2023 NFL Draft on Thursday night, beautifully framed and animated between Union Station and the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

Before millions on television and one of the largest crowds ever gathered here, a reported 125,000 by the NFL Network, Kansas City shimmered at the epicenter of what is effectively a three-day celebration of America’s Game.

In that gorgeous setting dense with Chiefs faithful — but also well-attended by fans of the 31 other NFL teams — Kansas City became the first host site of the draft also inhabited by the reigning Super Bowl champion since the event became a cultural phenomenon. The league began rotating it in 2015 following decades in New York City.

This was exactly the night to reiterate that distinguishing point, especially through contemporary local icons who stoked the festival-like vibe that NFL Network announcer Rich Eisen aptly called “Draftstock.”

That tone was set shortly before the Carolina Panthers made Alabama quarterback Bryce Young the overall No. 1 pick. And long before Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, standing alongside the franchise’s three Lombardi Trophies, tied a fine bow around the proceedings by announcing Lee’s Summit native and Kansas State defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah as the franchise’s choice with the 31st and final pick of the night.

Just before the show began, KC actors Rob Riggle and David Koechner greeted the crowd via video that featured Koechner’s welcoming song, “Mahomes On The Range.”

Then along to the stage came NFL commissioner Roger Goodell … accompanied by Heidi Gardner and Eric Stonestreet, two more KC favorites — who after motioning the crowd to stop the traditional booing of Goodell turned toward him and booed him themselves.

They cranked it up a notch when Gardner introduced Chiefs greats Will Shields and Dante Hall. And then they brought it to a fever pitch with Stonestreet trumpeting the franchise’s latest title as he introduced current superstars Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes, the transcendent two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and two-time Super Bowl MVP, held the Lombardi Trophy aloft as he entered. Then he embraced Goodell and stepped to the microphone:

“Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up: Kansas City, I think we can do a little bit better than that.

“Chiefs Kingdom,” he said, putting his hand to his ear, “can I hear you out there?”

Then it was over to Kelce, a worthy hype man in addition to being among the greatest tight ends in NFL history. Trophy in hand, he turned to one of his patented bits — “Hey, we fought for our right to party, baby, how ‘bout it?” — and held up the trophy himself.

“This thing shiny or what?” he said, before playfully suggesting strategy to general manager Brett Veach toward securing the next one. “Hey, you ready to trade up for the No. 1 pick this year or what? … Get ‘em, Veach!”

But as much as the Chiefs captivated the home crowd at the most expansive site (a footprint of approximately 3.1 million square feet) in NFL Draft history, and as much as they helped create the impetus for our friends at the Kansas City Sports Commission to make hosting this a quest, this also was about something more than just the event itself.

It was about the chance to showcase established world-class elements of the region, from the glorious grounds where the NFL Draft is being held to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Not to mention too many incredible BBQ places to single out just a few. And, yes, so much more.

It also made for an opportunity to highlight all the ways this is a city on the move, even if, alas, one of the signs of that is the Main Street maze amid the ongoing KC Streetcar extension project.

Those arriving at Kansas City International stepped into a gleaming and welcoming new airport that far better reflects a modernizing region than the obsolete version it replaced.

On the way downtown from the airport, visitors could see a reminder of not just Kansas City’s history as the sports-architecture capital of the world but also get a glimpse of the spirit of a groundbreaking future:

Just over the Christopher Bond Bridge over the Missouri River on the Berkley Riverfront, the latest thrilling enterprise of the visionary owners of the Kansas City Current is underway. Founders and co-owners Angie and Chris Long and Brittany Mahomes, now bolstered with the co-ownership of her husband, have commissioned an approximately $117-million, 11,500-seat state-of-the-art stadium. It will be the first of its kind built exclusively for a National Women’s Soccer League franchise — and a rarity for any women’s pro team anywhere.

If you came via Interstate 70 from the west, you’d have passed near the Kansas Speedway, Legends Field and Children’s Mercy Park.

Not far from that home of Sporting KC is the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, a pillar of what enabled Kansas City to become a 2026 World Cup host.

(Yes, thanks again to the zeal of the Kathy Nelson-led Kansas City Sports Commission.)

If you came in from the east on I-70, you passed the Truman Sports Complex featuring Kauffman Stadium (which the Royals want to leave to create a new downtown ballpark district) and what is now known as GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium — where five to seven World Cup games are expected to be played in 2026.

And, of course, it’s where Mahomes — in uncanny sync with coach Andy Reid and a terrific supporting cast fashioned by Veach — has made such magic.

In his time here, he’s transformed the trajectory of a franchise that had gone 50 years between Super Bowl appearances and become revered for his unique style, indomitable will, uncanny knack for saying the right thing and abiding sportsmanship.

In the process of helping rewire what had become a defeatist mindset among Chiefs fans, Mahomes has become such an international sensation as to be the face of Kansas City all over the world.

Not to mention at the center of at least the NFL universe this weekend.