The NFL draft as a traveling reality show keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Commissioner Roger Goodell announced last night that 320,000 attended the first round of the draft in Pittsburgh. The prior record was set two years ago in Detroit, with 275,000.
Yes, there are some irregularities when it comes to counting heads. Every time someone exits and re-enters the perimeter of the draft, another “one” gets added to the total.
In Pittsburgh, a sprawling footprint had fans gathered at the stage, inside Acrisure Stadium, and at Point State Park. It was a visually large and impressive showing.
Whatever the specific numbers, and regardless of any creative accounting that could skew toward “alternative facts,” the NFL proves time and again that, wherever the draft goes, football fans will follow.
It helps to get lucky with the weather. The skies can turn turbulent in the spring. One of these years, Mother Nature won’t cooperate with Father Football.
They’ll worry about that until it happens. For now, the goal is about making the numbers as big as they can be, if only to keep stirring the pot to get more and more and more people to show up for the reality show that could be conducted via group text.
