In the 1980s, the annual NFL Draft began on a Tuesday morning and was over by the end of the day–all 12 rounds of it.

Starting in 1988, the event moved to Sunday at noon, making it more suitable for television. At some point, the event was held on a Saturday and took up your whole weekend. Starting in 2010, the draft became a primetime showcase that began on a Thursday evening and lasted through Saturday.

Who in the world would sit around and watch three nights of draft coverage?

Lots of people.

The 2023 NFL Draft averaged six million viewers over three days on multiple platforms–including ESPN, ABC and the NFL Network. Those aren’t great numbers, but they are for an event where nothing happens, other than former college students finding out where they will be reporting to work for their first real jobs. But that was just the average over three days. The first round is the crown jewel of the event, and 11.29 million people tuned in a year ago. To give you a sense of how successful last year’s first round was in television ratings, it was the third-most watched in history. The highest was in 2020 when over 15 million viewers tuned in not even two months into the pandemic. Sports were shut down everywhere, and people were yearning for anything compelling to watch on television. The second-highest-rated first round was one year later when things were getting back to normal but not quite there yet.

To draw over 11 million eyeballs to the first round of the NFL Draft post-COVID? Amazing.

How well does the NFL Draft do compared to the annual Stanley Cup Final, the marquee event of the NHL? Last year’s matchup between the Las Vegas Knights and the Florida Panthers averaged 2.6 million viewers over five games. 

You might think that’s an unfair comparison. After all, last year’s Final aired exclusively on pay TV for the first time since 1994. OK, but the average viewership for the Final hasn’t eclipsed six million in any season and on any platform–NBC, ABC, ESPN, Fox, etc.–over the past three decades. Also, 5.62 million people figured out a way to tune in to ESPN (paid TV) to watch the first round of last year’s NFL Draft.

Again, you might scoff at this comparison by saying that hockey is Canada’s sport. OK, fine, what about an inherently American sport: Basketball? The 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat averaged 11.6 million viewers over five games for ABC, with 13.08 million people tuning in for Game 5 to watch the Nuggets capture their first title. 

Hey, the NBA Finals bested the NFL Draft in terms of ratings. That’s good for the NBA, right? I guess, but the league’s championship round used to draw a lot more eyeballs. Besides, shouldn’t players fighting for a championship be more compelling television than players getting drafted in the first round? I guess it was in 2023, but just barely.

What about baseball, America’s pastime (in name only, of course), and its crown jewel, the World Series?

The 2023 version between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks was the least-watched in Major League history, averaging just over nine million viewers over five games. Just under 11.5 million people tuned in to Game 5 on Fox to see the Rangers win their first World Series title in franchise history. So, again, the series clincher bested the first round of the NFL Draft, but just barely.

To give you a glimpse of how far the Fall Classic has fallen in terms of ratings, the most-watched World Series was in 1978 when an average of 44 million people tuned in over six games to see the Yankees defeat the Dodgers.

What does this all mean? It means that the NFL, a league whose TV ratings have never been better for its actual games–including the Super Bowl–is still a major force in professional sports even when its future players, many of whom will not be good, are standing on a stage in three-piece suits.