Dallas officially bids for 2018 NFL Draft

Philadelphia drew high marks and rave reviews from fans, athletes and analysts for successfully hosting the 2017 NFL Draft, and all signs seemed to point to the league picking up their option to return next year.

Enter Jerry Jones.

The Cowboys have officially submitted a formal bid to host the 2018 NFL Draft. According to the Dallas Morning News, the draft would be split up across two venues - AT&T Stadium in Arlington and the team's new headquarters and training facility 45 minutes north in Frisco.

"We don't know exactly what they'll want to do," said Cowboys COO, executive V.P, and director of player personnel Stephen Jones said. "We're waiting to hear on that.''

Jones said the league hasn't given the Cowboys a timeframe on when they'll make a decision on which city will end up hosting the draft. While in Philadelphia for the draft, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said a decision would be made "probably in the next couple months."

It's no surprise why the league would want to hold the draft in Dallas. The Cowboys are the most popular team in the country in terms of television ratings, evidenced by a schedule that places them in front of a national audience just about every week of the season. They also have exciting young players, like Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, that they could weave in and out of coverage of the event.

But as sportswriter and author Tim Kelly noted, "Philly didn't just raise the bar for future would-be host cities; it hoisted the bar well out of reach."

Philadelphia broke draft attendance records, with an estimated 250,000 fans descending on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway over the course of the three day event. According to Philadelphia police, not only were there zero arrests, authorities didn't even hand out any draft-related citations.

"The crowd and the setting Thursday set a new draft-night standard," wrote NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal. "The NFL might have to run this back."

ESPN's Trey Wingo lauded the "absolutely electric atmosphere" of the draft, while ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio said "it fit perfectly with Philadelphia."

In fact, the only disruption during the draft came from former Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson, who was showered with boos after trolling Eagles fans in the audience. But even Goodell, who was booed himself, said it was all part of the experience of the draft.

"We want the fans to come have a good time," Goodell said on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike show.