Commissioner Roger Goodell Hints at Multi-City NFL Draft

The ratings for the Thursday night opening day of the NFL Draft have come in and proved that the prime time real estate paid off well. The first round of the draft beat perennially top rated network shows Private Practice and The Office , and pulled in more than twice as many viewers as the Lakers-Thunder playoff game. The NFL aimed to get the draft in front of more fans; target achieved .

While Day Two was headed towards a wrap, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shared a bit about options the NFL was considering to continue the increase in draft viewership. They are thinking about taking the draft on the road.

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“We have talked about whether you move to a location, or maybe you move one day of the draft. If we are successful doing the draft on three days, that may be one alternative, to take one of those days and move it to a different location,” Goodell said.

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It’s a seemingly daunting task. The production for such an event is massive. The coordination for split location broadcast boggles the mind. Especially if a one day move takes the draft across the country. Some of the cities reportedly interested in holding the marquee event are Canton, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Diego.  Just a guess, but I’m betting the major players in the hunt for a new NFL stadium in L.A. will be squeaky wheels in the Commish’s ear.

I say give us another year to adjust to this three day prime time platform before you throw anything else at us. All day Saturday I kept thinking it was Sunday. This was worse than adjusting to daylight savings time.