KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The cleanup for the 2023 NFL Draft has already begun outside Kansas City’s Union Station and National WWI Memorial.

“Let’s all take a big breath and appreciate what just happened. That was the biggest event in Kansas City’s history,” said Jerry Baber, chief operating officer for Union Station.

And as quickly as the NFL Draft stage went up, now it’s coming down. The red carpet has been rolled up. The trampled grass is starting to perk back up after the foot traffic of an estimated 312,000 visitors.

The tear-down process will actually move faster than set-up. Everything took about a month to put up, but it’s coming down quicker than that.

The strike — that’s the term for stage take-down — is estimated to last about 12 days. On Monday, it was Day 2, and people can already see the progress.

Crews in cherry-pickers worked on the skeleton of the stage that once hosted dignitaries from the NFL Draft.

From overhead, you can see the work that still needs to happen. Tents from the fan experience dot the landscape around the National World War I Museum and Memorial.

Just east of Union Station, Habitat For Humanity and 21 other nonprofits loaded up on recovered materials that would otherwise end up at the dump.

“It would be a waste to throw all that away,” said Jack Groh, director of NFL Green.

“Lumber, sign material, fabric — all kinds of stuff that’s going to be reused right here in the Kansas City area,” Groh said.

Inside Union Station, the club atmosphere of the draft has been replaced with deconstruction sounds.

Baber said all of their attractions are back open, and he’s still feeling the thrill from last week.

“Seeing [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell here, walking through our halls, coming out, getting booed — as he traditionally is supposed to get booed, you know — we showed up for that,” Baber said.

“This is incredible what they did,” said Kristina Bennett, a visitor checking out the stage. “We came here to kind of see the aftermath of the draft, and I am blown away by the size.”

Bennett said she’s getting one last look, which is also her first look. She avoided the area until now since her daughter got married this weekend.