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NFL Draft In Philly Will Be Playground For Football Fans

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Next week, the Ben Franklin Parkway will be a playground for football fans.

"Twenty-five football fields along the parkway in size where for free fans can come down and do everything from, you know, for the first time ride on a zip line down the parkway to kick a field goal to most importantly look into that 3,000 seat theater that we are building on the steps of the art museum," said Peter O'Reilly, NFL senior vice president of events.

Here's A Map Of The 2017 NFL Draft Experience

"This is going to be the NFL Draft experience," said Nicki Ewell, the manager of NFL Events. Ewell showed CBS3 the area on the parkway which will be used for the free fan experience.

But even though most of the festivities are free, you can't just waltz in. You have to register on the NFL draft mobile app.

Related: 10 NFL Events In Philly Throughout Draft Week

"Once you check-in down at the parkway you have a chance to be upgraded into a seat in the theater so, we encourage as a first step any fan to download the NFL draft fan mobile pass app to have all the information they need for when they come down," said O'Reilly.

Once you're into the fan experience, there are options galore.

"The whole event is bookended by two things:  the open-air theater on one end on the steps and selection square as we call it down at the Franklin Institute. That's where the picks are actually getting called into, where team rooms across the country are calling in their picks there to those teams and fans can flow through there and watch the behind the scenes of the draft and look in at that," O'Reilly said.

Related: Philly Will Drop Roughly $500K On NFL Draft. Is It Worth It?

And here's the thing, the draft experience isn't only about the kids there are things to do for mom and dad too.

"On the parkway, there's going to be former Eagles, current Eagles, signing autographs," said O'Reilly. "Everything for a young kid who might want to go and play on our play football field and learn the game and meet players to a big avid eagles fan who might want to sit in the Eagles tavern and have a beer and watch the draft going on."

Related: Security Will Be Tight With NFL Draft In Town 

Ewell says they're expecting thousands of people to attend.

The NFL Draft Experience opens Thursday at Noon, and will remain open until 11 p.m. The same hours are planned for Friday. Saturday, the event will be open from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.

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