How many people are at the NFL Draft? Attendance in Detroit was historic in 2024

The city of Detroit turned out for the first night of the NFL Draft on Thursday. They literally set the attendance record for Day 1 of the draft.

A whopping 270,000 fans are estimated to have made their way through the NFL draft theater at Campus Martius Park. That blows the previous record from Nashville in 2018 out of the water.

Most of those fans had to stick around until after 11 p.m. ET to watch the Lions even make a pick.

NFL Draft attendance in Detroit set a new record and new standard

Lions fans made their voices heard throughout the day, chanting "Jared Goff!" at every chance they got. They fully embraced the draft with football feelings already sky-high thanks to their magical 2023 campaign.

The timing couldn't have been better, honestly. The Lions won the NFC North for the first time and won playoff games against the Rams and Buccaneers, their first postseason Ws since 1991. Football fans in Detroit are activated and enthusiastic with a future looking so bright.

The draft used to be hosted each year in New York but in 2015 and 2016 it moved to Chicago. The decision to move the draft turned out to be incredibly smart as the event has only gotten bigger and bigger each year. Since then it has jumped around the country with increasingly electric results. Philadelphia, Arlington, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Kansas City all showed out for the big weekend.

But none of them quite matched the fervor of Detroit on Day 1. It'll be fun to see what the next two days of draft festivities look like in the Motor City.

After the weekend wraps up, it'll be on Green Bay to figure out how to compete with the massive turnout. They're hosting the 2025 draft. The bar has been set higher than ever.