The NFL Draft, fueled by the continuing saga of Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders falling into the later rounds of Saturday, led to significant viewership figures for the first two nights of the event in Green Bay, WI. The NFL announced that the first-round coverage on night one last Thursday was the second-most-watched day one of an NFL Draft since the COVID 2020 Draft, which was held in the home of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
According to a release, round one coverage was seen by an average audience of 13.6 million viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, ABC, ESPN Deportes, and digital channels, which is an 11% increase over viewership of round one of last year’s NFL Draft.
Meanwhile, night two of the NFL also capitalized on the drama surrounding Sanders, leading all storylines as Friday’s second and third rounds of the NFL Draft were seen by an average of 7.3 million viewers, which is up 40% year over year.
According to Nielsen, the night two viewership figures was the most-watched second day of the draft on record, only trailing the 2020 NFL Draft held during COVID.
Furthermore, figures for day three on Saturday of the NFL Draft have yet to be released by the NFL.
In addition, attendance figures were also released for the annual event, and Green Bay, WI welcomed over 600,000 fans to the NFL Draft for a city with a population just over 105,000 people. The first night welcomed in 205,000, while the third day, which completed rounds four through seven, welcomed over 220,000 people.
Moreover, Green Bay, WI is the NFL’s smallest market that houses an NFL team and is the only publicly owned franchise in the league.
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