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Morning Edition

April 28, 2025

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The 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay was projected to draw 250,000 people. It more than doubled that number in the NFL’s smallest market, as TV ratings for the event also soared.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Green Bay NFL Draft Drew Huge Crowds As Well As TV Ratings [[link removed]]

Tork Mason/USA Today Network via Imagn Images

Green Bay emphatically delivered, and so did the rest of the country, for the 2025 NFL Draft.

The league and the Packers said the three-day event drew a total attendance of 600,000 to the Wisconsin locale, the NFL’s smallest market. The figure smashed preliminary expectations of 250,000, and tied Nashville, the 2019 host, for the second-largest draw ever for the event.

The total remains well below the 775,000 who came to downtown Detroit [[link removed]] last year for the draft, but still contrasts strongly with the shade thrown at Green Bay [[link removed]] early last week by Lions president Rod Wood.

The Packers returned fire, in a sense, saying in a social media post [[link removed]] with the attendance total, “And they said the smallest market couldn’t do it.”

Helping boost the figures was a robust first-day draw of 205,000 [[link removed]] on Thursday for the first round, followed by 175,000 on Friday and 220,000 more on Saturday. Green Bay’s draft figure is also nearly double its metro-area population of about 320,000.

“We were not quite correct,” Packers president Mark Murphy said, acknowledging the low preliminary projection. “I never cease to be amazed by our fans.”

The turnout further established the draft as one of the high points of the entire NFL calendar, and raises the bar for Pittsburgh, which is hosting next year and is projecting the largest visitor event in the city’s history [[link removed]].

TV ratings for the draft, meanwhile, also started with a bang as Round 1 averaged 13.6 million viewers [[link removed]], the second-highest figure for the draft opener.

Final viewership figures are expected later this week, but strong totals are expected. The drama on both the second and third days was boosted considerably by the dramatic fall of Shedeur Sanders. The Colorado quarterback was initially projected as a top-five pick but ultimately fell to the fifth round, where he was selected by the Browns [[link removed]]. Nielsen fast national numbers indicated that Friday’s second and third rounds averaged 7.4 million viewers [[link removed]], up 40% from 2024 and the second-highest Day 2 rating ever.

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After Adding Shedeur Sanders, Browns Have 5 QBs, Steep Bill [[link removed]]

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Browns quarterback room is getting increasingly crowded, and more expensive.

After two days of drama and a precipitous fall compared to prior predictions, Cleveland selected Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round [[link removed]] of the NFL Draft. That drop compared to an earlier, first-round projection cost Sanders as much as $37 million, given he will now sign a four-year rookie contract worth an estimated $4.6 million.

The son of Buffaloes coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, however, will compete in Cleveland against at least four other players for playing time, and a spot in the Browns’ long-term plans. Among Sanders’s challengers:

Joe Flacco. A 17-year veteran and prior Super Bowl winner with the Ravens, the Browns signed the 40-year-old Flacco to a one-year, $4 million free-agent contract earlier this month. Dillon Gabriel. The Browns selected the Oregon signal-caller in the third round of the draft, two rounds ahead of Sanders. Gabriel will earn an estimated $6 million on his four-year rookie contract. Kenny Pickett. Once seen as the potential heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh and a former first-round selection, Pickett spent a year with the Eagles before he was traded last month to the Browns. He has one year and $2.6 million remaining on his rookie contract. Deshaun Watson. The 29-year-old’s troubled history continues, as after previously serving an 11-game suspension in 2022 amid accusations of sexual misconduct and an Achilles tendon tear last fall, he suffered a second Achilles injury in January and is expected to miss at least the majority of the 2025 season. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam recently said trading for Watson was a “big swing and miss,” and the quarterback still has two seasons remaining on a five-year, $230 million deal [[link removed]].

Following the draft, Browns GM Andrew Berry suggested that there may have been external pressure to select Sanders, saying, “It wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to draft two QBs.”

How will the Browns sort out the crowded field? Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski plan a wide-open competition between the four currently healthy quarterbacks for the 2025 season.

“Obviously, you may not divide [training camp reps] 25, 25, 25, 25, but we feel really confident that we’ll have a plan that is fair to each player and fair to the team as well,” Stefanski said.

In the meantime, the father-and-son Sanders duo was caught on camera [[link removed]] discussing the other Browns quarterbacks before Cleveland selected Shedeur Sanders.

“Flacco my age,” the 57-year-old Deion Sanders joked. “I like Flacco.”

Shedeur Sanders Prank Call Was Made by Son of Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich [[link removed]]

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has confessed to being part of the prank calls that marred a portion of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Falcons said Sunday that 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich “unintentionally came across” the draft phone number of former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders on an open iPad and then used it to conduct a prank call Friday. The younger Ulbrich and his friends pretended to be Saints GM Mickey Loomis, suggesting Sanders was going to be the team’s next pick.

New Orleans instead picked quarterback Tyler Shough and defensive tackle Vernon Broughton that day. The Browns later selected Sanders in the fifth round, adding to a crowded quarterback room for the team [[link removed]].

The Falcons apologized to Sanders and his family, as did Jax Ulbrich, who spoke with Shedeur Sanders on the phone.

“On Friday night, I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful,” Jax Ulbrich said in a statement. “I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish. I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate one of the greatest moments of your life and I made a terrible mistake and messed with that moment. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

The league said it was looking into the call. ESPN reported [[link removed]] that Colts first-round tight end Tyler Warren also received a prank call, and that it is believed other prospects did as well. No discipline has been imposed on Jeff Ulbrich, but the Falcons said they are “thoroughly reviewing all protocols, and updating if necessary, to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.”

“People are morons,” said Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski. “I mean, it’s sad that these young men have to deal with this.”

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Wrexham Promotion Has ‘Mind-Blowing’ Financial Implications [[link removed]]

Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

Wrexham AFC’s underdog story for the ages will add several very dramatic, and pricey, chapters.

The Welsh soccer club secured its third consecutive promotion [[link removed]] on Saturday and will rise from EFL League One, the third rung of England’s pro soccer pyramid, to the second-tier EFL Championship. That leaves Wrexham just one level away from the Premier League—a mere four years after Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed a roughly $2.5 million deal for a club with a proud history over its 161 years of history, but one toiling in the fifth tier and previously teetering on financial collapse.

The rise to the EFL Championship and the heightened proximity to the Premier League raises the stakes considerably for Wrexham.

During the 2022-23 season, according to Deloitte [[link removed]], League One clubs averaged $13 million in revenue, while EFL Championship clubs averaged more than $41 million with the additional commercial opportunities available and heightened fan interest.

Wrexham already was operating much like an EFL Championship franchise, as the club said last month it generated $35.6 million in revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, up 155% from the prior year and an organization record.

The next annual report, covering a period before it starts play at the higher level, will almost certainly show even higher revenues. Even before that release, however, plans are afoot [[link removed]] to expand the 13,341-seat capacity of its home field, the Racecourse Ground, and ultimately get to as many as 55,000 seats, a figure much more in line with the top venues in the Premier League.

Helping further boost interest in Wrexham will be the planned May 15 debut of the fourth season of Welcome to Wrexham, the documentary series that has been a boon to the franchise both in terms of exposure and finances—particularly as nearly half of its revenue comes from outside of the U.K.

Wrexham will also need to be more active in the player transfer market, and compete more vigorously for talent. In League One, player salaries average about $265,000, but that figure jumps to roughly $825,000 in the EFL Championship and to more than $4 million in the Premier League.

“The jump in salaries is incredible, mind-blowing,” said Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson. “Even coming up to [League One], the jump to get players of Championship quality is expensive, but obviously with the next level, I don’t think people outside football quite realize. They think players in League One must be multi-millionaires, but the drop-off from what people read about Premier League players when they come down is huge.”

Conversation Starters The Savannah Bananas sold out the 81,000 seats at Clemson’s football stadium. Check out what it looked like [[link removed]]. Cavs big man Evan Mobley got a $45 million raise during the playoffs. Here’s how [[link removed]]. What are the perks of owning a pro sports team? Watch Logan Ryan discuss them here [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Mel Kiper Jr.’s Shedeur Sanders Fixation Hurt ESPN Draft Coverage [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Kiper called NFL teams “clueless” and said Sanders’s fall was “disgusting.” Young GM’s Bold Draft Reshapes the Jaguars and Shakes Up the NFL [[link removed]]by Jeff Benson [[link removed]]James Gladstone pulled the trigger on the Draft’s biggest move. The Rays Groundskeepers Are Adjusting to Life Outside the Dome [[link removed]]by Hannah Keyser [[link removed]]After nearly three decades in a dome, Tampa groundskeepers were forced outside. Question of the Day

Did the availability of Shedeur Sanders affect your NFL Draft viewership?

Yes, I watched more coverage Friday and Saturday [[link removed]] I watched about the same as I would have without him [[link removed]] I watched less due to the Sanders coverage [[link removed]]

Friday’s result: 21% of respondents think Shedeur Sanders should have been selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

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