A three-day affair?... - 5/4/09

Word leaked last week that the National Football League is investigating the possibility of turning the Draft into a three-day event. The first round would be in primetime on Thursday night, with the second and third rounds on Friday night, and rounds four thru seven on Saturday. This is another one of Commissioner Roger Goodell's out-of-the-norm suggestions, right up there with the 17 or 18-game regular season and the moving of both the Pro Bowl & Super Bowl. We'll start with the Draft, though.

I'm not really sure what this possible move is going to do for television ratings. ESPN has been broadcasting the Draft since 1980 with plenty of success. Mel Kiper has given birth to "draftniks" everywhere and millions of people have capitalized on the Draft's exposure, creating a whole business culture around the seminal NFL event of the spring. It seems like everyone who has an opinion about football publishes an annual Draft guide and the NFL Scouting Combine has become a five-day tour-de-force. With all this in mind I really don't know how much higher the ratings will climb as millions of people already faithfully tune in to ESPN on the final Saturday in April to see who ends up where.

Come to think of it, this whole three-day Draft might actually hurt the league. Now, I do agree that the first round can be an event unto itself. With the time between picks shortened from fifteen to ten minutes, this year's first round took just three hours and twenty-three minutes, the fastest first round since 1990 when the league had four less teams. That makes for a perfect 7:30-11:00pm primetime slot for a Thursday night event. Plus, most of the reality programming giants schedule their programming from Monday-Wednesday, giving ESPN & the NFL an entire uncontested evening to showcase their products.

The hurt comes after the first round. I can't imagine common fans being interested after the first round. Most common fans (and that's who this initiative is aimed it) will stay tuned for the second round because it immediately follows the first round on Saturday. And I'm willing to bet that many of those common fans don't even bother turning on the television at 10am Sunday to watch rounds three thru seven. I fear that if the NFL does indeed spread the Draft over three days, it may become all about the Day One headlines while the rest of the Draft becomes nothing more than an afterthought.

Football addicts (like me) already watch the entire Draft from start to finish so this change really doesn't affect us. This whole move actually reminds me of Vince McMahon (and not just because I enjoy the WWE). You see, Vince knows that the die-hard wrestling fans will always watch and invest in his product no matter what he puts out there. So he tries to make changes that will appeal more to the common fan and maybe bring on pieces of a new audience. He does this because no matter how much the die-hard fans may hate what he's doing, we'll still tune in every Monday, Friday, and pay-per-view. I feel like Goodell is doing the exact same thing. He knows that the real football fans will watch anything with the NFL logo slapped onto it. This is a move designed to purely bring in new fans and streamline the product for those still not in love with or aware of the NFL and its products. The first round will be a great event but I just don't think the three-day spread is worthwhile.

As for the draft moving to different cities, I am actually 100% in favor of that. Every city with an NFL team has tremendous passion for the game and fans of all teams make the trek to New York City every year. I think it would be a nice reward (like choosing the site of an All-Star Game) for some of the other fans to be able to host the Draft and really add their own flavor to it. This could definitely change the appearance of the event as the pre-Draft parties and Draft Day itself would take on some traits of the city they are in, like the atmosphere of Super Bowl Week.

I'm not gung-ho on the 17 or 18-game regular season, though. I agree that pre-season games are not worth paying regular-season ticket prices but that doesn't mean we can get rid of them altogether. Coaches still need some of those games to determine who is going to fill those last few roster spots, step up on special teams, or win a fierce position battle. The pre-season isn't about the stars. The solution is just to cut one or two pre-season games while not adding regular-season games. Don't get me wrong, people are going to watch the additional regular-season games no matter what. But now the chances of players getting hurt is even higher and it is very possible that an extra game or two in an already-taxing regular season could hurt the NFL's postseason product, which would be devastating to all involved.

Goodell would be wise to use NASCAR as a cautionary tale. Earlier this decade, NASCAR found a sudden surge of popularity. Their answer to this was to give the people more of what they wanted. So the powers-that-be expanded the race schedule, added new tracks in non-traditional NASCAR locales, and stretched out their drivers to the point of exhaustion. Now NASCAR is considering taking a few races off the schedule and is staring down some serious financial and sponsorship issues. No sport, not even the mighty NFL, is recession-proof.

Oh, one other thing. The Pro Bowl is the most useless of the four major All-Star Games. Football just doesn't translate into a glorified exhibition. Here's an idea. Why not make the Pro Bowl a flag football game? Or just make an All-NFL Team at the end of season, like college football has their All-American selections? Just saying.

Some news & notes:

- Two NBA first-round contests went to a Game 7 and both were in the East. The Atlanta/Miami series was not as close as you would think despite going the distance. Every game was a blowout, a double-digit win for the victorious team. Meanwhile, the Boston/Chicago series was every bit as thrilling as you would expect a 7-game series to be. The teams traded scintillating wins and four of the series' seven contests went to overtime, an NBA playoff record. The four second-round matchups look to be exciting. Keep on eye on those Denver Nuggets. They easily dispatched Dallas in Game 1 of their Western Conference Semifinal series and look poised to keep doing big things. Carmelo must really be thanking his lucky stars for bringing him Chauncey Billups.

- Brett Favre should stay retired. Enough said about that one.

- Congratulations to former Syracuse head football coach Dick MacPherson on being selected for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. MacPherson had a 66-46-4 record during his time on The Hill, from 1981-1990. His best year was the undefeated season of 1987, which ended with a Sugar Bowl tie against Auburn. He also laid the foundation for the program that one of his assistants, Paul Pasqualoni, would take over and then guide to 107 wins, including six bowl victories. I had the pleasure of working with Coach Mac during my four years at Syracuse. He is a great football coach and a great man who absolutely deserves this honor. Congrats again, Coach.

- Mine That Bird, a 51-to-1 longshot took home the win in the Kentucky Derby this past Saturday. Only Donerail in 1913 won the Derby with longer odds. Now, the horse's handlers are saying Mine That Bird is no sure bet to run the Preakness. This would be a huge blow to the sport of thoroughbred racing. It is only truly relevant for one glorious six-week period every year when the Triple Crown races are contested. If Mine That Bird doesn't even try for the Triple Crown and sits out the Preakness, I get the feeling no one will care about Pimlico or Belmont this year.

- I wonder how the Mets must feel as they watch Oliver Perez struggle right now. They refused to pay Derek Lowe an extra $4 million total on top of their initial contract offer. Instead, they gave Perez a 3-year, $36 million deal to fill the rotation behind Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and John Maine. Well, Lowe is 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA, 28 K's, and just 14 walks in 35 and 2/3 innings. Perez, meanwhile, has allowed 49 baserunners (21 walks & 28 hits) in just 21 and 2/3 innings. His ERA is an abysmal 9.97. He's headed to one of three places: the bullpen, the minors, or the disabled list. Way to go, Omar Minaya, way to go.

- 47-year-old defenceman Chris Chelios became the second-oldest player ever to appear in an NHL postseason game. Chelios dressed for Game 1 of Detroit's Western Conference Semifinal series due to an injury to star defenceman & power-play point man Brian Rafalski. Chelios is a 3-time Norris Trophy winner and has 24 years of postseason experience to his credit. See, experience does go a long way in postseason play.

- Keep an eye on the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins this month. The Dodgers have raced out to a 10-0 start at home, the best in franchise history, and have an incredible young core of homegrown talent that includes Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp, & Chad Billingsley. The Twins finally have their heart and soul, catcher Joe Mauer, back in the lineup and healthy again. Minnesota is a very different team with Mauer out there and there is no clear front-runner in the AL Central.

- And pay attention to the Vancouver/Chicago series in the NHL's Western Conference Semifinals. Both of these teams are loaded with young, high-flying talent. This series has the potential to go the distance and will be filled with heavy hitting, fast skating, and lots of goals.

- Finally, Coach Meech actually has two posts today. The post following this one is a venting exercise for me regarding the Devils' Game 7 defeat in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series last Tuesday. If you want to read about my love of Jersey's Team and the sadness accompanying the end of the Devils' season then check it out. But if you're not a hockey fan, I would suggest stopping here until the next post.

Until next time.

-Meech

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