This year’s coverage of the NFL Draft set viewership records across television, digital and attendance, the NFL said this morning. The three-day event posted a high in TV and digital viewers across ABC, ESPN, NFL Network and various digital channels with a 6.1 million average, up 8% from last year. Last year's event drew 5.5 million viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, Fox, ABC and ESPN2. Plus, the more than 600,000 fans in Nashville easily broke the NFL Draft’s attendance record set in ’17, when 250,000 fans attended the event in Philadelphia.

The CFL and CFLPA will "return to the bargaining table" today and tomorrow in Toronto, their "first face-to-face meeting since April 9." The current CBA expires May 18, with training camps "scheduled to open the next day." More than 97% of players last week "gave the union their support in a strike vote," although "exactly how many players participated in the vote wasn't clear." The "overwhelming strike vote was hardly a surprise, as such votes are normal protocol in collective bargaining" ( GLOBE & MAIL, 4/27 ).