This year’s NFL Draft, at least when it comes to viewership and attendance numbers, was a massive success.
The league and ESPN announced on Tuesday that the NFL Draft was the second most-watched draft in history. Only the 2020 NFL Draft, which came during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, performed better. An average of a out 7.5 million people tuned in to watch the draft across all channels this spring, which is up 27% from last year.
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Saturday was the most-watched third day of the draft ever, too, with an average of about 4.3 million viewers tuning in to watch the final rounds of the event — which is historically the least-watched day of the three. That’s likely due to, at least in part, Shedeur Sanders’ slide. The Colorado quarterback, who many expected to be a first-round pick, ended up being selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round. The Sanders storyline dominated the draft over the first two days when his name wasn’t called.
More than 600,000 fans attended the NFL Draft in Green Bay over the three days, too. That’s roughly double the population of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, metropolitan area, and nearly six times the population of the city itself. That made it one of the best attended NFL Drafts in history. Only last year’s draft in Detroit, which drew about 775,000 fans, had more people in attendance.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward went No. 1 overall in the draft on Thursday night to the Tennessee Titans. Colorado star and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter was taken second by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who traded up to get him. Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter went third overall to the New York Giants.
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This was the first time that Green Bay has hosted the NFL Draft, which was previously held in New York City for decades before it started moving around again in 2015. Next year’s draft will be held in Pittsburgh. Both Washington, D.C. and Denver have submitted bids to host the 2027 NFL Draft, though a location has yet to be determined.
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