NFL Draft Moving to Primetime

by John B on Jul 23, 2009 9:47 PM EDT

It looks like the NFL Draft will abandon its Saturday-Sunday format in 2010. Instead, it will take place in primetime on a Thursday and Friday night and conclude on Saturday.

The audience for the NFL draft has been growing, and the league has responded by expanding the event from two to three days.

Commissioner Roger Goodell notified teams Thursday that the draft will be spread over three days in 2010, running Thursday, April 22, through Saturday, April 24.

In addition, the first round will start in prime time at 7:30 p.m. ET.

"We continue to look for ways to make the draft more accessible to more fans," Goodell said in a statement. "Moving the first round to prime time on Thursday night will make the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television."

ESPN and the NFL Network will televise the entire show.

The second and third rounds will start at 6:30 p.m. ET on April 23.

Rounds 4 through 7 will be on April 24, starting at 10 a.m. ET.

Accessible to more fans my foot. I hate this plan. One of the great things about the Draft is you can build a weekend around it. You spend all day Saturday reading up and watching tv to see all the angles your team can go. People are going to rush home from work and get to bed early on Thursday. Not enough time for the long analysis you can make after your team's first round pick with an entire weekend afternoon in front of you.

The NFL wants to be able to get the exposure and ad revenue from putting the Draft in primetime. That's fine. Just please don't pretend this is about the fans.

Poll

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Saturday-Sunday

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Thursday-Friday-Saturday

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Comments

This is BS. I’m sure most of the ratings trail off after the first 5 or so picks depending on the draft class. I know I changed the channel once Crabtree got picked. And on a Thursday night of all things? Thats the big ratings night where the networks all put on their big hitters. I’m willing to bet that they get clobbered in the ratings the first year and go back to Sat – Sun. They could be really annoying and remove the rundown of whose been picked on the bottom of the screen forcing people to watch till they run through the picks again.

by Mark D on Jul 23, 2009 10:20 PM EDT reply actions

Fuck It

I’m starting to hate the NFL more and more, with all the extra tv timeouts, all the commerical interuption on the tv, seeing guys like manning take a minute to snap the ball, all the bullshit holding penalites in big time games, and big time situations. Give me a break. And now there taking my favorite Sat away from me? You gotta be kiddin

by Civardi on Jul 24, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions