Detroit sets NFL draft record with more than 700,000 fans in attendance

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DETROIT (AP) — The NFL draft has a new attendance record after more than 700,000 fans flooded downtown Detroit for the three-day event.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer broke the news at Campus Martius Park during the third and final day of the draft, which consists of selections in the fourth through seventh rounds.

“It has been a historic week here in the great city of Detroit,” Whitmer said Saturday. “We have shown the world what the Motor City is all about.”

While it will take years to know if this week’s picks delivered for their teams, there’s no doubt that Detroit made the most of an opportunity to host hundreds of thousands of fans and show 50-plus million viewers the new-look city.

Motown beat Music City’s three-day attendance record of 600,000 set in 2019, when fans filled Broadway in Nashville.

Detroit drew a record 275,000 people on Thursday for the first round and had 550,000 fans through the second round, breaking Day 1 and 2 attendance records set in Nashville five years ago as part of the league’s decade-long tour around the country.

The NFL did not charge fans to attend the event in Detroit, though the visitors and area residents were expected to generate more than $160 million in economic impact at sold-out hotels, packed bars and restaurants, as well as retail stores in the heart of downtown.

Former Lions running back Billy Sims was enjoying brisk sales of barbecue from his restaurant under a tent on a sidewalk along Woodward Avenue on Saturday.

“Fans have been great, and business has been good,” said Sims, who was drafted by Detroit with the No. 1 overall pick in 1980. “To have the draft here is great for the entire state of Michigan.”

The NFL is engaged in some level of talks with 20-plus teams interested in hosting a future draft, which is of particular interest in colder-climate cities that probably can’t win a Super Bowl bid.

Green Bay will host the 2025 draft.

This year’s edition kicked off with a very Detroit opening on Thursday night that included rap icon Eminem on stage with Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, along with current Lions stars Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Chicago, as expected, drafted Southern California’s Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall. The Bears took Iowa punter Tory Taylor on Saturday in the fourth round.

“Hey, you’re not going to punt too much here,” Taylor said Williams wrote to him in a text message.

Williams was the first of a record five quarterbacks picked among the top 10 and, with Denver drafting Bo Nix out of Oregon two picks later, a mark was matched for signal-callers selected in the first round.

An unprecedented drought followed.

After Nix went to the Broncos at No. 12, New Orleans was the next team to take a quarterback when it drafted Spencer Rattler of South Carolina in the fifth round with the 150th pick overall.

The string of selections without a quarterback was the longest since 1967, surpassing the gap from the 1972 draft between Pat Sullivan at No. 40 and Jim Fassel at No. 167.