NFL Draft's Huge TV Ratings Remind Us Football Is Still King In America

[Tugg Speedman]

The draft had better ratings than all NBA and NHL playoffs Thursday night:

@Ourand_SBJ Overnights:
ESPN NFL Draft: 6.8
ESPN2 Blazers-Spurs 2.7
ESPN2 Heat-Nets: 2.6
NFL Net NFL Draft: 1.9
NBCSN Bos-Montreal 1.2
NBCSN Ana-LA: 0.7

NFL Draft's Huge TV Ratings Remind Us Football Is Still King In America

http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-draft-first-round-tv-ratings-2014-5

The first round of the NFL Draft posted a huge 6.8 overnight rating on ESPN, the highest rating ever for the draft.

A 6.8 rating translates to an average of 7.9 million households throughout the night.

To get a better sense of how big a 6.8 rating, consider this:

* The actual number of people who watched was even higher as the draft was also broadcast on the NFL Network.

*  The draft went head-to-head with a Miami Heat playoff game.

*  In last year's NBA playoffs, there were 78 games prior to the Finals. Only one game, game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals (Heat-Pacers), posted a better rating (7.1) than last night's draft.

* Those 78 games had an average rating of 2.7.

* In last year's Major League Baseball playoffs, there were 32 games prior to the World Series. The highest-rated game was game six of the American League Championship Series (Red Sox-Tigers) which posted a 5.5 rating.

* Those 32 games averaged a 3.0 rating.

The good news for the other leagues is that the NBA Finals (10.4 average rating over 7 games) and the World Series (9.0 average rating over 6 games) still draw more people to the television than the NFL Draft.

But the gap is narrowing.

[GGGG]

And for those who complain that the draft should be moved back to April....well...that's obviously not going to happen.

It's funny.  I complain about the hype.  But once I watched a show I needed to catch up on Thursday evening, I had the draft on all night.

[MU82]

Didn't watch one second of it. And I'm a big NFL fan.

It's just too much. Too much Berman. Too much Mel. Too much self importance. Too much hearing everybody say "National Football League" four times per sentence.

I get why folks like it, though. Thank goodness for choice!

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Too much hearing everybody say "National Football League" four times per sentence.

Yes!! Drives me CRAZY the way Greg Gumbel takes 6 seconds to say N C A A on CBS. Branding at its most nauseating.