NFL Draft first round ratings revealed
As the city of Detroit brings in record-setting crowds for the NFL Draft, the NFL’s viewership ratings are at an all-time high as well. According to reporter Joe Pompliano, The first round of the NFL Draft averaged 12.1 million viewers.
The NFL’s first-round draft coverage had more viewers than all 2023 World Series Games, the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals Game, four out of five 2023 NBA Finals Games and every 2023 college football regular season game but one.
Detroit is nearing a record for the number of fans filtering in through the league’s three-day live draft. The city’s first time hosting the second biggest night of the NFL calendar resulted in the largest single-day crowd in the history of the event with 275,000 people going through the gates. Another 230,000 people poured into Campus Martius on Friday night before the gates closed for Round 2. The city needs just 95,000 more fans to show up on Saturday to break the record set by Nashville in 2019.
First-round pick Caleb Williams breaks Fanatics jersey record
Chicago Bears fans celebrated their first No. 1 overall draft pick in more than half a century on Thursday night by setting a new jersey sales record. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, new No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams had his Bears jersey set a record on Fanatics for most jerseys sold on draft night in the company’s history. Williams surpassed Indiana Fever No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark, who broke the record less than two weeks ago.
Chicago had only had two first overall draft picks in their history before Thursday night. They selected selected Tom Harmon in 1941 and Bob Fenimore in 1947. Williams, a Heisman Trophy winner, was the first quarterback taken in this draft, which saw six quarterbacks come off the board in the first round.
Clark wasted no time in setting a record after being selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever in Monday’s 2024 WNBA Draft. Just two hours after commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced her name at the podium at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Clark became Fanatics’ top-selling draft pick in any draft night history. At the time, she took the top spot from Trevor Lawrence who set the peak after the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Williams put together an impressive college career, starting at Oklahoma in 2021 and finishing with two years at USC. His biggest season came as a sophomore in 2022 when he threw for 4,537 yards, ran for 382 yards and totaled 50 touchdowns – 40 in the air and 10 on the ground. That helped him bring home the Heisman Trophy.
Williams didn’t see the same type of success in 2023, but his numbers were still impressive. He threw for 3,633 passing yards and 30 touchdowns to go with 11 rushing scores. USC had an up-and-down year en route to a 7-5 record as the defense struggled, but Williams’ draft stock didn’t change. He’ll now try to be the franchise quarterback Bears fans have been waiting to see.