The NFL Draft could be heading to prime-time

by Dan Kadar on Apr 28, 2009 1:15 PM EDT in 2010 NFL Draft

Rick Gosselin the astute and wonderful football writer for the Dallas Morning News

is reporting that the NFL is discussing making the first round of the NFL Draft a prime-time event on Thursday nights.

With this year's first round being only three and a half hours, it's stands within reason that having the draft from 8 to 11:30 p.m. would do big ratings.

For hardcore draft fans, Goodell has greatly changed the draft-watching process. Previously, the ordeal was an all-hours-of-the-weekend marathon starting early in the morning and lasting late into the night.

Now, at just over 15 hours, it's seemingly a sprint.

In Goodell's model, the first round would be on Thursday night, the second round Friday night and the remainder on Saturday.

"We'll talk to our teams about it," Goodell said. "We have to see what impact this would have on them. But I think it has potential."

Yes, the potential to make truckloads of money. That's right, I went there.

What it could mean for teams is more trades in the second round thanks to a longer window to negotiate.

As a fan of the draft, this proposal has me torn. I like having it stretched over three days because it gives the media and bloggers even more time to devote to the draft. I'm not sure, however, that I like spending a late April Thursday and Friday night in front of the television.

Because of my non-commital to either option, I turn it to you. Let me know in the poll and the comments which scenario you'd prefer.

Poll

Which NFL Draft setup would you prefer?

Rounds one and two on Saturday, remainder on Sunday

89 votes

Round one Thursday night, round two Friday night, remainder on Saturday

43 votes

132 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

my favorite would be bring the saterday start time back to noon

and bring the 3rd round back to saterday.

I got Summer hatin' on me cuz I'm hotter than the sun. Spring hatin' on me cuz I ain't never sprung
Winter hatin' on me cuz I'm colder than Y'all. And I will never, I will never, I will never Fall.
-Lil Wayne, Mr. Carter

by shake n bake on Apr 28, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

I would also like to be able to spell saturday

by shake n bake on Apr 28, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

don’t like it… Saturday all day draft parties are so much more fun than this forever and a day method. I agree with shake (for once) bring the 3rd round to Saturday and let us watch the draft for even longer.

Oh… and ESPN draft coverage sucks. It was just awful.

by math_geek on Apr 28, 2009 2:54 PM EDT reply actions

I'd prefer a draft in which they actually talk about the picks being made

I love the draft and everything surrounding it but watching the dang this is maddening, especially in the later rounds. I can’t express how maddening it was to hear a Sanchez vs. Stafford debate for the millionth time during the sixth round. If you weren’t watching the bottom scroll you’d never even known about half of the picks in the sixth and seventh round.

I also hated the ‘projected starting lineups.’ Who cares who the projected starters are during the middle of the fourth round or whatever? Don’t they have like three or four months talk about projections?

Oh and one more thing, I hope Jon Gruden gets a coaching job before next year’s draft because his head was spinning by the second round. He didn’t even know what team they were talking about when the Cardinals picked Cody Brown. I hope they cut that big table in half in future years and realize that sometimes, less is more.

Ok, I’m done ranting, but I figured I might find some draft nerds like myself who felt the same frustrations. I know not everyone wants to hear analysis of the 227th pick in the draft but most people actually watching after 12 straight hours of coverage do.

by Bezekira on Apr 28, 2009 3:14 PM EDT reply actions

can't remember the source

but someone had an awesome comment about listening to Gruden talk football without being able to drop f-bombs being like watching a one legged man run.

by shake n bake on Apr 28, 2009 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I pretty much agree with all of that. On ESPN, there was very little Kiper and McShay.

by Dan Kadar on Apr 28, 2009 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions

write in vote

Friday 8PM EST – Round 1
Saturday 1PM EST – Rounds 2, 3, and 4
Sunday 1PM EST – Rounds 5,6, and 7

moving to thursday night just makes no sense to me… first off they have to compete with most network’s strongest lineup, secondly you have to deal with school/work the next day.

by dt3 on Apr 28, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

this would be my vote too

I agree that Thursday night makes no sense, but Friday would be good.

by JohnPaul on Apr 29, 2009 7:35 AM EDT up reply actions

I kinda liked the old style, rounds 1-3 on day one (Saturday) and the rest of the draft on Sunday. Keep the shortened time in between picks but go back to the old format.

Then again I love the draft and wouldn’t mind if they added the 8th round back on.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Apr 28, 2009 5:18 PM EDT reply actions

I would really prefer 3 and 4

Starting at noon the way they used to. Could never handle three days of party any more. The Friday at work would be a killer. 3 rds on Sat. and 4 on Sunday.

by oldboysfan on Apr 28, 2009 7:09 PM EDT reply actions