NFL touts big attendance and TV ratings for draft

The NFL draft drew record numbers both on site and on television.

The league said Monday that more than 600,000 attended over the three days in Nashville, easily eclipsing the 250,000 who came to watch two years ago in Philadelphia.

Nielsen reports that the draft on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network averaged 6.1 million viewers at any given time over the three days. The draft averaged 5.5 million viewers last year, which was the first time all seven rounds were on broadcast television.

The average numbers were up despite the ratings for Thursday's first round being flat. The combined average for the three networks was 11.1 million, down from last year's 11.2 million. The ABC broadcast averaged 4.5 million, up 21% from last year's 3.7 million on Fox.

"By every metric — from the hundreds of thousands of fans who filled the streets of Nashville to the record-breaking ratings and viewership — this event was an unqualified success," said Peter O'Reilly, the NFL's executive vice president for club business.

• New York Giants cornerback Corey Ballentine, who was shot Sunday in Topeka, Kan., is recovering and will join the team for its minicamp this weekend. Topeka police have no suspect in the shooting, which killed Ballentine's friend, Dwane Simmons, a player for Washburn University in Topeka. Ballentine tweeted about Simmons' death: "I love you forever. Thank you for letting me experience your life."

• Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier will miss a second consecutive season while recovering from spinal surgery in December 2017. Shazier, a two-time Pro Bowler, remains committed to playing in the NFL again.

Texas Tech rewarded Chris Beard for coaching the team to the national championship game, making him one of the nation's top-paid college basketball coaches.

Beard got a new contract that will pay him an average of $4.575 million annually through the 2024-25 season. Total pay is tricky to measure, but that puts him easily in the top 10, perhaps as high as third behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky's John Calipari.

• The Baylor women's basketball team celebrated its national championship with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and dined on McDonald's, Chick-fil-A and Wendy's in the State Dining Room. The team gave the president a jersey with his name on it, a Baylor hat and a signed basketball. Coach Kim Mulkey noted the jersey might be too small and had a suggestion: "Maybe Melania will wear it."

• North Carolina will make Princeton's Courtney Banghart its next coach, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Banghart will replace Sylvia Hatchell, a Hall of Fame coach who resigned April 18 after investigators she had made "racially insensitive" comments.

Call it matchmaking. 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and soccer standout Jozy Altidore are engaged. Both tweeted the news Monday.

Stephens, 26, is the eighth-ranked women's tennis player in the world. Altidore, 29, has made 110 appearances for the U.S. men's soccer team.