ESPN NFL Draft Ratings Sets Record

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ESPN broadcast of the NFL draft has drawn the most viewers ever.

With the first two rounds held in prime time for the first time, ESPN's three-day telecast had 3.7 million viewers, up 27 percent from 2009. It also attracted 2.85 million households, second most in draft history and up 24 percent from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The most households to watch a draft on ESPN came in 2006, when 2,000 more homes than this year tuned in.

Even ratings for the third day, with Rounds 4-7, increased 10 percent to a 1.8. The final day was on Saturday this year, Sunday in 2009.

Pretty surprised they pulled these kind of ratings just for a draft. Nobody tends to care about drafts after the first round or 2 in other sports.

The NFL Draft is a huge event and the new format was great. I watched almost every single pick, but I do that every year. The NFL is the biggest sport in America, people love it and I love it.

Well even in Canada where hockey is big, I don't think we have that type of excitement for a draft. So many players don't work out it's almost a little trivial to try and keep up with everyone after the first couple of rounds.

In the NFL, they are bring in players that are going to make an ipact right away. Even some of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th round picks will either start or get on the field a lot. The way NFL teams build is through the draft. Rarely do you see teams build through free agency and trades only, but this off season has been a little different. The Jets and the Redskins both made huge off season trade moves, but even those moves were reflected in the draft. Also, sometimes teams find gold in the late rounds. For instance, Tom Brady was pick number 199 overall, in the 2000 Draft. 10 years, 3 Super Bowls, and a Super Model later, he has done pretty well.

Well a lot of other sports have great players in later rounds too. Like in the NHL, Kaberle was an all-star and he was drafted 204th overall, baseball you see a LOT of undrafted players make the majors, the Warriors selected Monta Ellis like 40th and he's one of the league's best scorers, but it's really a complete crapshoot once you get that far down into drafts.

Another reason I love the draft is, I follow guys from collage to the NFL. I will watch a guys career for 10-15 years. For example, I watched ND QB Jimmy Clausen for 3 years in collage and now I will be watching him in the NFL. It is also fun to agrue about what pick was goo or bad and stuff like that.

The NFL is by far Ameica's game and we love every bit of it.