NFL Seizes Opportunity To Market Draft Further

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

It wasn’t too long ago that the very idea of televising the NFL draft sounded silly: The draft is, after all, just an organizational meeting where names are read aloud.

But the draft has become enormously popular in recent years, growing into a two-day spectacle that gets better television ratings than the baseball and basketball games that air the same weekend. And yesterday the league announced changes to the draft that could help it rival March Madness and Opening Day as the biggest sporting event of the spring.

In an effort to make the draft more exciting for TV viewers, the NFL cut the time between first-round picks to 10 minutes from 15 minutes, and the time between second-round picks to seven minutes from 10 minutes. That will reduce the biggest complaint fans have about the draft: It takes too long (this year’s first round lasted more than six hours).

The league also announced that the 2008 draft will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, at Radio City Music Hall. In past years, the draft has started at noon, and the later start time should lead to more viewers, particularly on the West Coast. To make up for the later start time, only two rounds of the draft will be held Saturday, with the third through seventh rounds taking place Sunday. The second day of the draft will begin at 10 a.m., earlier than in the past, to allow enough time to get through an extra round.

The league issued a brief statement saying these changes “will make for a more streamlined and efficient draft,” but the NFL’s real motivation is profit, not efficiency. Shortening the draft will make it more popular, increase its already high ratings, and help the NFL to market its new players.

More people watched this year’s draft on ESPN than either of the other two top-tier sporting events that weekend, the NBA playoffs on TNT or the Yankees-Red Sox game on FOX. The right to televise the draft is part of ESPN’s $1.1 billion annual contract with the NFL, and although most of that contract is for “Monday Night Football,” the draft has become one of ESPN’s most valuable properties — not only does it draw big TV ratings all weekend, but it is also broadcast on ESPN Radio, drives traffic to ESPN.com, and sells copies of ESPN the Magazine.

The draft is unique among sporting events in that it is broadcast live on two different channels. The NFL also shows the draft on its own NFL Network, which gives the league a chance to showcase its own channel but doesn’t siphon off too many viewers from ESPN because NFL Network is in far fewer homes than ESPN.

But while the NFL draft has gone mainstream, the league wants to make it bigger still. Some NFL officials envision the draft becoming the second-biggest day of the sports year, behind only the Super Bowl. The league hopes the draft will grow so big that every office in America will have mock draft pools to go along with their tournament brackets.

The NFL also sees an enormous opportunity to use the draft for marketing merchandise, with online orders of rookies’ jerseys making the day after the draft the biggest sales day of the year for NFL apparel. The worst teams get the best players, meaning the fans who are hungriest for stars will be the most likely to see their teams draft a player whose name they want to wear across their backs. The league’s decision to shorten the first round isn’t without potential pitfalls. Some members of NFL front offices will resent losing five minutes of time that they could use for negotiating trades or debating the merits of the players they’re considering. And teams will now have to be more vigilant about getting their picks in on time, lest there be a repeat of the Minnesota Vikings’ embarrassing gaffe in 2003. That year, the Vikings owned the seventh pick but spent their entire allotted 15 minutes discussing potential trades. When the Vikings’ time expired and they hadn’t made a pick, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers, owners of the next two picks, quickly made their selections, leaving the Vikings stuck with the ninth selection.

Ten minutes is plenty of time to make a pick, so the new rules shouldn’t make such mistakes any more common. But from a dramatic standpoint — which is what attracts television viewers — mistakes like that could make the draft more exciting.

Also adding to the drama will be the availability of more well-known college players on the second day of the draft. Only 63 players will be first-day picks in 2008 – a first- and second-round pick for each of the 32 NFL teams, minus the first-round pick the Patriots forfeited for videotaping the Jets’ defensive signals. Fans will wake up Sunday morning eager to know which player will be the 64th selection.

That fact – that millions of Americans will turn on their televisions on a Sunday in April to find out who NFL executives consider the 64th best college football player in the country – speaks to just how insanely popular the NFL has become. And by making a fast-paced draft the centerpiece of its off-season, the NFL will only grow more popular.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use