NFL Draft Viewership Falls 12%, Averages 6.6M Over Three Days

TV coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft averaged 6.6 million viewers across all networks for the three-day event.

That’s down 12% from the 2025 three-day average of 7.5 million viewers.

However, it marks the third-most-watched NFL Draft on record, dating back to the event’s current three-day format that began in 2010. The record is 8.4 million for the 2020 NFL Draft, which was a virtual event held in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network each had their own broadcasts, as they have in recent years, in addition to various digital presentations like Pat McAfee’s Draft Spectacular and other streaming broadcasts.

First-round ratings were down 3% this year, averaging 13.2 million viewers across all networks, compared to 13.6 million in 2025.

This was the first NFL Draft since Disney completed its takeover of NFL Network earlier this month.

Crowd Control

The dip in NFL Draft viewership comes as the event continues to gain momentum with fans attending in person.

The NFL said it drew a three-day total attendance of 805,000 for last week’s draft in Pittsburgh, surpassing the league record of 775,000 set in 2024 in Detroit.

Last year in Green Bay, 600,000 fans turned out in the NFL’s smallest market.

Preliminary predictions for the attendance in Pittsburgh mostly fell between 500,000 and 700,000 fans.

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