After months of education and training, business members of the NFL’s 2026 Source Program finally got their first opportunity to meet face-to-face with potential buyers of the 2026 NFL Draft.

On Tuesday, Pittsburgh vendors gathered at the Community College of Allegheny County Foerster Student Service Center in Pittsburgh’s North Side for an in-person “How to Do Business with League Partners” workshop. It was part of a larger, more in-depth program designed to help the city’s businesses gain an opportunity to grow their revenue.

“The priority of the NFL and our earners over at the Steelers and at Visit Pittsburgh is to make sure that the most local impact can be made from an economic standpoint. … We’re all looking to make sure that those dollars stay local,” said Myisha Boyce, the lead of the 2026 NFL Draft Source Program.

While the Source Program currently has around 100 active members — which were selected based on their applications — Boyce said none of the Source Program businesses is guaranteed a contract for the actual three-day NFL Draft event, but rather the program provides opportunities to gain exposure and network toward potential contracts leading up to April.

“The NFL has what we call our ‘tier one’ vendors, and they are our primary buyers for the Draft. They have the major budgets that put on this activity. They’re going to be part of a panel … followed by networking so that our businesses can talk directly to them,” Boyce said prior to the program.

While members of the media were asked to leave during the actual program, reporters did attempt to speak with a number of NFL buyers prior to its start. All of the NFL buyers approached by a TribLive reporter declined to comment.

For the workshop event a handful of Source Program businesses were contracted to provide food and drink specifically for the hour-long mixer leading up to the workshop.

Lindsey Park, owner of Canonsburg Cake Company, which opened in 2022, had a booth with displays of cookies and cakes for buyers to taste.

“Once we’re done with the mixer, I’m going to be going into the workshop, and it’s about working with the buyers for the different events that they’re going to be putting on. So I’m hoping tonight to sort of learn a little bit more about how that process works, what it’s going to look like as we get closer and closer to the big day,” said Park, who is a member of the Source Program.

Contracts surrounding NFL Draft events are awarded on a rolling basis as businesses are hired for smaller Draft-related events leading up to April, Boyce said.

Christopher Rosado, owner of Steel City Hot Dogs & Catering, which operates out of Allentown, said there were still a lot of unknowns surrounding what businesses would be working with the NFL.

“We just had a lot of conversations going. There’s tons and tons of conversations with the NFL, their partners. So there’s a lot of good, positive conversations going on leading up to the NFL Draft,” Rosado said.

It was unclear Tuesday how many contracts had been awarded so far, if they were all to businesses within the Source Program and when an official list of vendors would be released.

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