Back in 1982, thanks to the suggestion of Dallas Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm, the NFL competition committee held their first draft combine to give all NFL organizations a centralized location to look at potential prospects. After bouncing around to a few different locations, the name was officially changed to the NFL Scouting Combine and moved to its permanent Indianapolis home in 1987.
Each year 330 players are sent invitations and those are the athletes that you see participating in the event. Back in 2004, media got involved in the event with the NFL Network airing it on live television for the first time in history.