How to get to Kansas City’s NFL Draft: Your guide to parking, public transit and more

With possibly hundreds of thousands of people descending on the Paris of the Plains for the NFL Draft at Union Station this week, it’s important to plan ahead for parking and transportation now.

The weekend will be jam-packed with festivities, including The NFL Draft Experience fan festival, which will be held on the south side of the National WWI Museum and Memorial each day during the draft, April 27-29..

The festival will have opportunities for fans to see past Super Bowl rings and the Vince Lombardi Trophy, get autographs from past players and enjoy a kids-focused play zone.

The event is expected to draw in more than 100,000 people to Kansas City. Last year in Las Vegas, the draft drew an estimated 300,000 fans over the three days. In 2019, some 600,000 were estimated to have attended the NFL Draft in Nashville.

Here’s what you need to know about finding parking and getting to and from the 2023 NFL Draft.

Where to park during the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City

Parking will be available throughout the downtown area, including street parking along the KC Streetcar line, so long as the vehicle is within the white lines.

Garages and lots will be available for parking, but those spaces need to be purchased ahead of time. Parking passes can be purchased for $20 to $40 a day, depending on the lot.

A parking lot in the West Bottoms will also have shuttle service on April 27 and 28 that will drop riders off at Summit Street near the festivities.

Parking reservations will be available at the following lots:

• West Bottoms Garage
• Crown Center Retail Garage
• Auditorium Plaza Garage
• 13th and Walnut Garage
• KC Live Garage
• Arts District Garage
• 1620 Main St.
• 1700 Main St.
• 18th and Vine surface lot
• J.E. Dunn at 11th and Hickory streets
• Ed Wolfe Garage
• MCC Penn Valley

To reserve your parking ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft, visit here.

Many of these lots are within walking distance of Union Station, where the draft festivities will be taking place. Draft-goers can also take the KC Streetcar or a RideKC Bus. The main entrance to the event will be at Wyandotte Street and Memorial Drive.

When and where will the streetcar be running?

Kansas City’s streetcar runs along Main Street from the River Market on the north, through downtown to Union Station.

The streetcar will not go as far as Union Station during the NFL Draft, starting Thursday, according to VisitKC.

All of the other stops along the streetcar’s route will be serviced. The closest stop will be at 19th and Main streets, in the Crossroads, about a 15 minute walk to the nearest entrance to the event.

During the NFL Draft, the streetcar will run extended hours to help everyone get around smoothly. On Thursday, April 26, and Friday, April 27, the streetcar will run from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. On Saturday, April 29, the it will run from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

What RideKC buses can I take to the draft?

One of the best routes to get to the draft will be the Main MAX route, which will go through downtown and get you close to the event entrance, according to VisitKC.

However, the route will not run on Pershing Road as usual. Instead it will operate on Penn Valley Drive. The closest stop to the event will be at Penn Valley Drive and 29th Street, which should be a five minute walk to the nearest entrance.

RideKC added shuttle routes heading east and west to help fans out too.

Interested in Mexican food? Take the West Side shuttle, which runs along Southwest Boulevard from north of Union Station to 31st Street, passing Mexican restaurants along the boulevard. Some of the other highlights include Boulevard Brewing Co., Ponak’s and Minsky’s Pizza.

If barbecue and jazz is more your speed, take the East Side shuttle through the Crossroads Entertainment District to the 18th & Vine Historic District, including two famous barbecue places — Arthur Bryant’s and Gatest Bar-B-Q. Other highlights along the route include the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the American Jazz Museum and the Black Archives of Mid America.

The shuttles can be tracked in real time by downloading the Transit mobile app to a cellphone. The routes are named NFL1 for the East Side shuttle and NFL2 for the West Side shuttle.

East Side Stops:

• Gates — 12th Street at Brooklyn Avenue
• Arthur Bryant’s —Brooklyn at 18th Street
  
  
• 18th at Euclid Avenue
• 18th at Woodland Avenue
• 18th at Highland Avenue
• Historic District — 18th at Vine Street
  
  
• 18th Between The Paseo and Grove Street
• 18th at Forest Avenue
• Brewers’ Alley — 18th at Oak Street (special shuttle stop)
  
  
• East Crossroads — 18th at Grand Boulevard (special shuttle stop)
  
  
• Streetcar— Walnut Street, between 18th and 19th Street (special shuttle stop)
  
  

West Side Stops

• Minsky’s — Southwest Boulevard at 31st Street
  
  
• Ponak’s —Southwest Boulevard at 29th Street
  
  
• Boulevard Brewing - Southwest Boulevard at 27th Street
• Southwest Boulevard at 25th Street northbound
• Southwest Boulevard at Summit Street eastbound
• Southwest Boulevard at Baltimore Avenue
• Southwest Boulevard at Central Street (special shuttle stop)

For more information on other routes during the draft, see RideKC’s NFL Draft Updates.

Where do I get picked up and dropped off if I use a rideshare service?

There will be a couple of zones specifically for ridesharing. Those zones will be at 27th Terrace at McGee Trafficway and McGee Street near Pershing Road or Grand Boulevard near Sea Life in Crown Center.

Another rideshare option for fans: RideKC Iris, a new on-demand transit option that has been focusing on the Northland, is temporarily expanding its services zones to include areas south of the Missouri River for the draft.

The expanded area includes the Country Club Plaza and much of Kansas City north of 31st Street and areas near the Truman Sports Complex, according to a news release from the KCATA.

For the draft, RideKC Iris will operate from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The cost is $5 per person when traveling to entertainment districts, including the NFL Draft and the Country Club Plaza, $3 per person within a zone, $4 per person when traveling between Northland zones.

Riders can book trips to the draft with the Iris app by searching NFL Draft and selecting the stop at 27th and McGee Trafficway.

For trips from the Northland, riders will need to book their trip in two legs, with a transfer to another vehicle at the City Market in downtown Kansas City. Riders are advised to make sure the arrival time of the first leg is before the expected departure time of the second leg.

RideKC Iris also provides trips to and from Kansas City International Airport within the Northland zone for $10 per trip, which may have one or more passengers traveling together. There is no cost when the trip connects to the zone’s designated Iris transfer points. The NFL Draft temporary service, however, does not include zone transfer points.

Rides can be booked through the Iris app from RideCo, which runs on both Android and iOS phones, by calling 816-205-8221 or online at https://book.iris.rideco.com/.

Vehicles for the service may be a cab or a marked Iris vehicle. zTrip cabs serving Iris customers will have an Iris or RideKC logo on the rear side of the vehicle.

For more information on how to get around during the draft, visit here.

Blair Kerkhoff and Joseph Hernandez contributed to this story.

This story was originally published April 23, 2023 at 7:00 AM.

Kynala Phillips

The Kansas City Star

Kynala Phillips was a Service Journalism Reporter at The Kansas City Star, where she worked to answer readers questions about the resources and services in the community. She attended the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is originally from Madison, Wisconsin.