The Kansas City Council held a business session on April 14, 2023, beginning at approximately 2:30 PM. The meeting opened with the approval of minutes from the March 16 business session, followed by a detailed presentation on the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft, which is set to take place in 14 days. The meeting concluded with an annual update from the Kansas City Health Commission.
Welcome to business session. Our first item is approval of minutes for business session of March 16th. Is there a motion? It's all moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed. The motion passes. I understand then for our first topic, there is a big event coming up about which I know nothing. The NFL planning. The NFL draft presentation. I assume either Ms. Gilmore, Miss Nelson, or whomever would like to join us. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So we are just 14 days from the kickoff to one of NFL's signature events at two of Kansas City's iconic cultural attractions, Union Station and the National World War One Museum and Memorial. Paying homage to a historic gathering place within Union Station's Grand Hall. Greatness is on the clock is the tagline for the 2023 NFL draft in Kansas City, the largest event that Kansas City has ever hosted. Construction of the NFL draft stage is underway both above and below the union station. And although the design of the stage, which purposely highlights the union station facade, and it will be striking, the shoring in place in the garage is equally as impressive and important to creating this unprecedented venue. To date, most city departments have been involved in some way in getting to this point. This undertaking is complex, and our staff led by our directors have made execution a priority. The mayor's office, city manager's office, city planning developments, CRO, public works, parks and recreation, neighborhood and community services, finance, health, general services, water, fire, police, and law, have had a seat at live and virtual tables, answering phone calls, exchanging emails, and even some frantic text, spending hours to move the project forward. To staff, on behalf of the city manager, I want to express how grateful we are for your professionalism during this process. The NFL has shared that the collaboration has been a great experience, and that we could not have done that, and it couldn't have happened without you. Today, providing a detailed update in the chamber, we have Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of both the Kansas City Sports Commission and Visit KC, and virtually representing the NFL. We have Aubrey Walton, Director of Event Location Strategy and Planning, say that five times fast. And John Barker, Senior Vice President of Global Event Productions and Operations. Now I will go ahead and turn it over to Kathy. Thank you, Comiko. Mayor, good to see you this morning. Council members, hello everyone. Lots of things are happening. As Kamiko mentioned, we have on the phone Aubrey and John from the NFL, and I might just kick it over to John quickly to just open us up and then we'll walk you through a brief presentation. John. Kathy, thank you for that. And Council members, thank you for your time this afternoon. First of all, Kamiko, I I love to just echo what you said at the top. We cannot be thankful enough to the city of Kansas City for everybody that works for the city and everybody that we've engaged with throughout this process. Five years is now two weeks. Hopefully now you can look out your windows and see the sheer size and magnitude of what the NFL draft is. And again, Kabiko, you you touched on it. There's a lot that happens behind the scenes, uh, and there's a tremendous amount that happens under the ground as we shore up the parking lots to build the largest stage, the largest structure that we've ever built for the NFL draft. And we've done that purposely. We wanted to make sure that we match the iconic building union station and made sure that we are highlighting both that uh and the World War One Museum and Memorial. We could not be happier with where we are today. We are on track with our plans.