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You have to hand it to the NFL for making three days of reading names off cards into the second-biggest event on the league calendar.<\/p>\n
A record 805,000 fans visited the three-day event in Pittsburgh, with a single-day attendance record of 320,000 for Thursday’s first round.<\/p>\n
Only the Super Bowl is bigger, and even then that’s only of serious interest to two teams, but all 32 are involved in the draft for one simple reason – hope.<\/p>\n
The worst teams get the best picks of the college superstars and that gives them hope of a magical turnaround – and the NFL has managed to market it all as a must-see experience.<\/p>\n
Detroit hosted 775,000 fans in 2024, Green Bay had 600,000 last year, and both were topped by Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Washington DC will hope for even more next year and commissioner Roger Goodell revealed cities were lining up to win hosting duties in years to come – with representatives from 10 on scouting trips in Pittsburgh this weekend.<\/p>\n
The NFL Draft looks set to get even bigger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n