Coverage of the 2011 NFL Draft on ESPN and the NFL Network combined for a 5.1 rating and 7 million viewers. Those numbers were down 22 percent and 16 percent respectively from 2010.
Despite the ratings slide, it’s still the second-most watched first round behind last year’s 8.3 million.
While you could make the claim that the NFL Draft faced stiff competition between the NBA Playoffs and NBC’s The Office, it’s the first sign that fans are tired of the back-and-forth between the NFL and the players.
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Just ask Roger Goodell, who was greeted Thursday night with a round of boos from the crowd.