The NFL Draft Gets The Red Carpet Treatment

The NFL is really going all in with the its new effort to turn the first round of the draft into a prime time spectacle. Thursday marks the first time the league will broadcast only the first round of draft, with the remaining rounds spread out through Saturday. ↵↵Many hardcore fans have lamented the loss of a weekend-long and weekend-exclusive diversion. They may soon too gripe about the unnecessarily ornate trappings that are being added to the broadcast. Most glaringly, ESPN and NFL Network will broadcast dueling red carpet preview shows, with a decided emphasis on a glitzy entertainment ↵

↵↵⇥But, says ESPN producer Jay Rothman, “there’s a strong effort by the league to have more glam!” Says producer Eric Weinberger of NFLN, which is doubling its draft coverage to 38 hours: “It’s up to the NFL, NFLN and ESPN to make it more of an awards show, a huge entertainment atmosphere.”↵↵↵Part of that is an hour and a half lead-in even, where NFL Network will show a red carpet procession of the 75 most valuable draft choices of all time, as decided by voters at NFL.com. Perhaps that makes it a more glamorous affair to those already intent on tuning in, but does trafficking in higher profile sports figures really ramp up the crossover appeal of a draft in any significant way? It seems doubtful that knowing that Dan Marino and Jerry Rice will be in the vicinity will attract more casual viewers.↵

↵↵Chances are, ratings will be high on account of the novelty factor, which will further embolden the league to head in the direction of spectacle. If you happen to be a fan of the old format, it may be years before a significant backlash forms against the newer, showier way. That is, if it ever comes at all.↵

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