The 2024 NFL Draft will be remembered for the Chicago Bears starting their Caleb Williams era, the Atlanta Falcons perplexing everyone and a very, very large amount of people flocking to Detroit.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Saturday that the Draft had broken the NFL’s all-time attendance record with more than 700,000 fans during an appearance to announced a fourth-round pick for the Detroit Lions.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announces that the 2024 NFL Draft has broken the all-time attendance record with 700,000 fans. pic.twitter.com/6TKj6OQZlB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 27, 2024
Whitmer:
“It has been a historic week here in the great city of Detroit. We have shown the world what the Motor City is all about and it is my honor to announce that the 2024 NFL Draft has now broken the all-time record! 700,000 and counting! So thank you NFL fans and thank you Detroit.
Detroit had already captured the record for Day 1 attendance, with more than 275,000 fans showing up to see the first round in person.
Both of the previous records were held by the 2019 Draft in Nashville, with a total attendance of more than 600,000 and a Day attendance of more than 200,000. Notably, that would mean the NFL has now surpassed the high it reached before the pandemic re-shaped how live events in the world. The drafts since the 2020 teleconference have been held in Cleveland, Las Vegas and Kansas City.
It will be on Green Bay next year to continue that trend.
The television audience was sizable for this year’s draft as well, with an average of 12.1 million viewers tuning in on television and streaming platforms, the highest viewership since 2021 and a 6% increase from last year. Viewership reportedly peaked at 34.3 million.
