WEST LOOP — While the NFL Draft is still more than a month away, Chicago football fans say star players are already popping up around the city.
Draft favorite Melvin Gordon, a star University of Wisconsin running back, dropped by Mary Bartelme Park Sunday night with a film crew in tow, according to Armando Chacon, treasurer of the Bartelme Park Advisory Committee.
Gordon, who had a football tucked under his arm during the Sunday shoot, is widely considered to be a first-round pick when NFL teams start selecting players on April 30.
It was unclear whether the crew was shooting a promotional commercial that would air ahead of the NFL Draft or if Gordon was in town to shoot a segment that would air during the draft. But Gordon's agent, Fletcher Smith, tweeted Sunday that Gordon was on Chicago's West Side shooting "a pre-draft tease."
"Suddenly there were 10 to 12 people [in the park] setting up equipment and lights and cameras, and then a football player was out there," Chacon said.
Chacon, who also serves as chairman of the West Central Association, said his children ran outside, eager to find out if it was a Chicago Bears player. Gordon graciously met with his kids instead, he said.
Chacon said the draft segment served as another sign that the park's gateway sculpture, at 115 S. Sangamon St., is becoming a bigger symbol in the city. The modern backdrop has become a destination for wedding and engagement photographers, he said.
"It's cool that they chose the park. It's more exposure for the West Loop," Chacon said.
The Chicago Film Office could not be reached for comment Monday.
The NFL Draft will be held Downtown from April 30 through May 2 after many years in New York. Registration for tickets to the NFL's annual player draft will open at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The Chicago Bears have the seventh pick in this year's draft after stumbling to a 5-11 record last season.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
