In getting ready for the NFL Draft arriving soon on this coming weekend, all week long IQFB will bring you their famous Little Known Facts about different aspects of the NFL Draft. Today, we start with Little Known Facts About The NFL Draft itself:

• The NFL Draft has been held in New York City since 1965, but was first broadcast on TV in 1980 by ESPN.
• Tickets to the NFL Draft are free and given out one-per-person the morning of the event.
• Teams pick in reverse order to how they finished the previous season, with the worst team picking first. To break ties, strength of schedule is used, in the event that there is a tie in strength of schedule, a coin is flipped to determine who picks next.
• There are 32 compensatory picks that are awarded to teams that have lost more qualifying free agents than they gained in the previous year. Compensatory picks are selected at the ends of rounds three through seven, depending on the value of the free agent players lost. In the event that all 32 compensatory picks are not used, they are put into a makeshift eighth round and distributed first to the teams with the worse records from the previous seasons.
• The NFL Draft is not where it ends, for players who did not declare their eligibility before the draft but then lose or give up their college eligibility before the NFL season starts there is a Supplemental Draft in the summer. Teams can choose to participate in the Supplemental Draft or not. If a team uses a pick in the Supplemental Draft, they then forfeit that pick in the following year’s NFL Draft.

Watching the NFL Draft is a great tradition to start or continue with your family and friends. It is easily made into an all-day event and can be combined with a barbecue or other distractions as you wait for your favorite team to pick its next player. More little known facts about the NFL draft to come this week.