
Davon House participates in the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine.
For the last quarter century, the best athletes in the world have gone to Indianapolis, Indiana, for a glorified meat market. They will be weighed, measured, stretched, and put through a whole litany of tests, physical challenges, and psychological screenings to determine if they are ready to become professional football players. That’s right kids, athletes have started arriving at Lucas Oil Stadium for the NFL Scouting Combine. Just when you think football’s over, the NFL Draft preparations begin.
“So instead of a number of these athletes travelling from club to club during the period of time from the end of their season until the draft and basically doing the same battery of medical tests, it was decided that the teams would share the costs, that they would all collect in one area,” says National Football Scouting president Jeff Foster, whose organization coordinates the combine.
So how many people will the Combine bring into Indianapolis, Indiana this week? Well, somewhere between 300 and 400 athletes, a similar amount of news media, and a whole bunch of scouts, agents, wannabe agents, and other hangers-on. The Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association estimates that some 5000 people will be in Indianapolis, bringing in an estimated $6 million for the local economy. Don’t bother going if you’re just a fan looking to boo Roger Goodell; the event is generally not open to the public.
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