Read the opposing argument from Loyal Homer.
The NFL Draft is not exactly a made for TV event. At least, it wasn’t until ESPN approached then-commissioner Pete Rozelle 31 years ago with an idea. “Broadcast the NFL Draft and people will watch it,” or something like that, was probably the conversation’s opening line. No matter how the conversation started, it ended with Rozelle agreeing to make the NFL more accessible by broadcasting the draft, a decision that helped transform the league into an unstoppable force in American sports culture. The draft is so popular now with football fans that any change in the format runs the risk of being received negatively. Nevertheless, the league and its primary draft broadcasting partner, ESPN, have teamed up to change the format and approach to the NFL draft. And the draft will actually now be better that it ever was before.
To start, let’s just dispel the notion that the draft did not need to change. Of COURSE it needed to change. The world is changing in how people consume media. You can get draft information and content from virtually every sports-related Web site on the interwebs now (including, obviously, this one). ESPN is in competition with those media outlets that wish to compete with them in their distribution of information about the draft. The only logical thing to do is evolve the medium they control in order to retain eyeballs where they – and their sponsors – want them. Changing the NFL draft to a three day long event captivates fans for a longer period of time, in addition to dealing with the modern realities of media consumption.
It is true that overexposure is sometimes a death knell to once popular events. This new draft format, however, is not overexposure. It is an improved product, especially for Sports Geek’s like me.
First, consider that Thursday nights in America are the one night every week where the most people are watching television. What better place for the first night of the draft, especially considering it features its most universally popular off-season content. The most popular sport in the country welcomes players from another sport among the country’s most popular, college football. Casual and diehard fans alike find this first night of the NFL draft quite appealing. For ESPN, and the NFL, to have an entire night devoted solely to the first round sets up for an intense and dramatic evening and creates a new level of achievement in sports… provided that NFL rookie was a first-day draftee. Now, being a “first-day draft pick” carries a certain caché – and income level. It’s up the players what they make of the new sought-after moniker.
As rounds two and three are drafted on Friday night – the rounds often full of the most valuable draft picks, where talent and financial investment are most properly aligned – some of the casual fans fall by the wayside, but the interest from the diehards picks up substantially. In fact, the second round is viewed by some to be just another first round now that the format is changed. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has publically stated his belief that the extra time will afford each front office more time to research players who are still available, evaluate where competitors sit in draft position, and determine if they wish to move up in the second round or trade down to collect picks. Hmm, sounds a lot like how the first round of the draft is treated.
Belichick continued, “In the past, you kind of rolled into that round. Now, to actually stop and have the whole night to sit there and think about it and talk to other teams and develop a new strategy. Everybody does that on the second day; now we have three days. It’s a different dynamic.”
The man knows what he is talking about, having built several Super Bowl championship teams. The idea that teams get extra time to evaluable talent and competitive position means teams gain more control over the draft, and are able to better execute a strategy. As a fan, I love this idea because it appears to give my favorite team a chance to get better. I am in favor of any draft modifications that give my team the opportunity to get better.
If the second round is similar to the first in its approach because of the extra study time, then the fourth round – which drafts on Saturday, along with the remaining rounds in the draft – can be leveraged by teams in much the same way. Teams may have to spend additional time on their respective drafts boards and scouting, but now if a player gets drafted, the decision will have been more carefully considered when teams have another night to sleep on a decision. Overall, this greatly improves each team’s ability to build a winner.
Fans also get additional intrigue and excitement. No longer is the first day of the draft the most anticipated. All of the analysis can be hashed out after the first round, then new needs are uncovered and new strategies hatched. It is as much about football as political and business maneuvering.
Getting drafted as a player means something more than it used to now. Sure drafted players get a contract and longer look than a free agent does, but imagine being a round five draftee this year. Teams will be positioning themselves to get the players they believe have fallen through the cracks of the previous rounds. Every decision is more carefully weighed, so every pick is put through a new, more intense ringer than ever before.
Fans can now not only better judge their team’s decisions and trust that better decisions will be made, they will also get more time to learn about their team’s newest players. The media will have more time to give background stories and information on these new players, to provide scouting reports and discuss a player’s fit within a particular scheme. It is a free country, so fans that are bored by that do not have to watch. But for those that are intrigued, it is a big win.
Fans win, teams win, and players win. Seems like if those three stakeholders are winners, the league is, too.
The new format is good if you’re a Sports Geek like me, a passion-filled loudmouth like Bleacher Fan, a success-at-all-costs fan like Babe Ruthless… and even a heavily biased Loyal Homer, my opponent in this fine debate. Plus, the NFL takes up more airspace in a down time for the league, sells more ad space on the league-owned cable channel, and fills up its own network with more content than it has ever had before. If there was ever a sports-related win-win (win-win-win), the NFL’s new draft format is just that. For fans, organizations, and the league alike.
