It's only Day 2, and it's already been one hell of a Draft weekend in Detroit.
After Thursday night's first round set new NFL Draft records for attendance, Friday showed no signs of slowing down. According to the Detroit News, the Draft venue once again reached capacity on Friday night, to the point where fans were being diverted to other areas to watch.
#BREAKING: Detroit reaches capacity again on second day of NFL Draft, fans diverted to other areas https://t.co/P1yE3ujpTa
— The Detroit News (@detroitnews) April 26, 2024
According to the article, "roughly 230,000 people converged on downtown Detroit for the second day of the NFL Draft, putting the city on track to potentially break the record for draft attendance."
Since the NFL started moving the Draft to different cities, attendance has varied greatly. The league set a record for Draft attendance in 2019, when the event was held in Nashville. The Draft was held in Chicago in back-to-back seasons from 2016-2017, and the event averaged a little over 200k for both years.
NFL Draft Attendance:
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 25, 2024
2015, Chicago: 200,000
2016, Chicago: 225,000
2017, Philadelphia: 250,000
2018, Dallas: 200,000
2019, Nashville: 600,000
2020: Virtual
2021, Cleveland: 160,000
2022, Las Vegas: 300,000
2023, Kansas City: 312,000
2024, Detroit: ?pic.twitter.com/d3HQzDN3oB
Friday night's attendance in Detroit topped both of those years in Chicago, however. So if you're in the business of counting wins over Chicago, chalk this weekend up as a Lions W.