2010 NFL Draft may be ready for prime time, but are the fans?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell just can’t seem to leave well enough alone when it comes to the draft.
For the the 2008 NFL Draft, Goodell moved round three to Sunday and streamlined the draft process by allowing less time for picks.
“We believe these changes will make for a more streamlined and efficient draft,” Goodell said at the time.
Now, the draft will be spread over three days beginning with the first round on Thursday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. (ET). The second and third rounds will take place beginning on April 23 at 6:30 p.m. (ET) and the final rounds on April 24 starting at 10 a.m. (ET).
If Goodell changed the length given for picks to expedite the draft process, why stretch it over more days?
It’s hard to believe it’s being done to make the draft “more accessible to more fans,” as Goodell said Thursday.
Instead, it’s almost a certainly being done to make more money. It’s clear watching the draft that it’s not a huge money maker, despite garnering 39 million viewers. If it was making great money for the NFL, the same commercials wouldn’t air every commercial break.
That’s how it is with the Super Bowl and the draft has clearly become the league’s second biggest event.
How can you measure the importance of draft weekend? Well, it’s almost common vernacular to refer to draft weekend as Draft Weekend. Random words have practically become a proper noun!
If Goodell wants to attract as many casual fans as possible, mess with the Pro Bowl or even the Super Bowl. The draft is for us hardcore football fans. Whatever will happen with those fans at Radio City Music Hall who sit through the entire second day? What will we do with this suddenly empty Sunday?
We enjoy sitting in front of the television for hours. We downright love blowing the last weekend in April indoors. Is it a nerdy, borderline pathetic exercise
At some point, all this fiddling by Goodell becomes a detriment to what made the NFL the best sports league in the world. And when that happens, he just might lose some of us nerds.