NFL says 600,000 fans attended the draft in Green Bay

The NFL draft might not draw a Super Bowl-level TV audience. It definitely generates a Super Bowl-level crowd.

The league announced that 600,000 attended the draft in Green Bay. While that's down from last year's all-time record of 775,000 in Detroit, Detroit is a much larger city and metropolitan area.

It's impressive. It merits praise. Green Bay hit a home run.

That said, it's high time that we come to terms with the fact that the crowd-size numbers trumpeted by the league carry a not-so-subtle alternative-facts vibe.

The first point should be obvious. There wasn't a crowd of 600,000 at one specific time. That was the total attendance for the three days, lumped together.

Second, it wasn't 600,000 different people over three days. Surely, there was significant overlap.

The third point is more subtle. Because draft attendance is free, fans can come and go at will. And every time they enter the draft area, it counts as another fan. So if, for example, someone goes back to their car and returns to the draft, that's two not one.

Consider this. Via Richard Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Thursday night's attendance was 205,000. Saturday’s was 220,000.

Anyone who watched the draft on Saturday knows it was never as crowded as it was on Thursday night. Not even close. But with people wandering in and out over the six-hour Saturday marathon, there would have been plenty of duplication.

It's all still very impressive. But it's not a real number. In Green Bay or in Detroit or in any location where people can come and go through the perimeter — and who will then count as two or three or four or five fans.

And, yes, there are ways to accurately estimate the true, unduplicated number of attendees for each day. There's no reason to do it, however, if the end result will be a much less resounding victory lap.