Stories Shaping Sports and Business News: Monday April 27

No Sports Equals HUGE Ratings for NFL Draft

The NFL Draft wrapped up on Saturday and if you watched any of the coverage during the three-day event, you were among 55 million people that tuned in.

Day 1: 15.6 million people, up 37% from 2019 with a peak audience of 19.6 million.

Day 2: 8.2 million people, up 40% from 2019 with a peak audience of 10 million viewers.

Day 3: 4.1 million people, up 32% from 2019.

Total: 55 million people over three days, up 16% vs. 2019

That's an average of 8.4 million per day. All three days set all-time highs in viewership.

The NFL's marquee event aired on four television networks: ESPN, ABC, NFL Network and ESPN Deportes.

For reference, ESPN’s Last Dance, the 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, had 6.3 million for the first episode and 5.8 million for episode two. 

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Lakers Give Back Federal Check

The Los Angeles Lakers returned about $4.6 million that came via the federal government’s CARES Act. The government program aims to help businesses during the coronavirus pandemic and economic shutdown by giving loans to any business to help cover payroll costs. 

The Lakers originally applied for the loan, but after being accepted into the program and then seeing thousands of other small businesses get shut out after the funds were depleted, the team decided to return the money.

The Lakers franchise has an estimated value worth more than $4 billion dollars.

The Lakers do not qualify for the newest round of PPP funding (Public Private Partnership), which is not available for businesses that have access to liquidity and the credit markets.

The Lakers are not the only business to have qualified for a PPP loan despite the program being designed for small businesses. A number of public companies have both applied and qualified for the loans: Potbelly's, AutoNation, Shake Shack, Ruth’s Hospitality (which owns Ruth’s Chris) to name a few. However, those listed have announced that they are returning the loans.

Coronavirus Update:

There are three million cases of the virus worldwide, with more than 207,000 deaths, per data from Johns Hopkins. In the U.S., there are around 970,000 cases, with over 54,000 deaths. There are 291,000 cases in New York state and there are over 229,000 cases in Spain. The U.S. has the largest number of fatalities worldwide, with over 26,000 deaths in Italy and 23,000 deaths in Spain.

The major indices in the market—the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq—are all steadily in the green based on investors' hope that the news from around the world that places are beginning to ease restrictions. Georgia is allowing restaurants and movie theaters to open up today after letting businesses such as nail parlors and hair salons open last Friday. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York has said that he could see New York beginning a phased opening starting May 15. Italy is planning on rolling back some restrictions starting May 4. Switzerland is letting some businesses reopen starting today. However, the World Health Organization has warned that the “pandemic is far from over.”

TheStreet's Katherine Ross contributed to this report.