On Tuesday the NFL announced that the 2014 NFL Draft will take place from May 8-10th at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Yes...May, not April as fans have become accustomed to over the years. Over the past decade the draft has become a made for television event, must see television for a league that every moment is a must watch. In 2010 the league turned the draft into a three day event making rounds 1-3 air in prime time over a two day span (thursday and friday nights) and having rounds 4-7 (the rounds of the draft that really make up the fabric of a team) on Saturday morning.
So why the move from April to May. The main reason is location. For years the NFL and Radio City Music hall have partnered up as the logical venue for the draft. Fans agree as each year the crowds get bigger and bigger for the event held at the iconic midtown venue. But the NFL and Radio City must not have been in sync when the venue booked a spring holiday special for the time typically given towards draft coverage. The spring holiday special is said to be a conflict in upcoming years as well.
The result is a tryout May draft that will probably stick for years to come if everything turns out as planned. The NFL league year normally starts the first few days in March, preceded by the scouting combine in February a week or so after the super bowl. NFL.com is reporting that there will be no changes to the league calendar for 2014 other than the draft being moved to May 8th-10th. The league has always wanted to drag out the offseason in order to remain relevant in the spring months. Moving the draft to May allows pre-draft hype to expand another two weeks (just what we need more Mel Kiper).
It is being speculated that a May draft date will effect rookies the most. Normally teams schedule mini-camps in the month of May before memorial day weekend. Rookies being drafted in the middle of may will have less time to study the playbook and may take a longer time becoming acclimated to their new offensive and defensive schemes. On the other hand, a later draft could be to the benefit of graduating seniors that are draft eligible. Most universities finish their spring semesters in mid-may and sometimes early june. This has prevented some rookies from attending mini-camps because they are still finishing up their degree.
In some instances this has been a detriment. Take Stoney Brook University running back Miguel Maysonet for example. A star player at a smaller FCS school, Maysonet did not get drafted but was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles shortly after the draft as an un-drafted free agent. He participated in the first few Eagles rookie mini-camp practices but was unable to participate in an organized team activity (OTA) in mid may because his college class had not yet graduated. The eagles signed former Dallas Cowboy's running back Felix Jones instead and Maysonet was soon a goner. He since has been signed by the Cleveland Browns. But his story is an example of why pushing the draft back is better for the player.
One reason for pushing the draft back that i'm surprised is not gaining any traction is the concept of pushing back the entire league year. Right now the NFL kickoff weekend is set to always be the first sunday after labor day (college football kicks off its season on labor day weekend and the NFL does not want to interfere with them). By pushing the draft back two weeks the league could also choose to push back the start of the season by two weeks until the end of september or the start of the fall. Major League Baseball would love that as it would allow more attention to its close pennant races down the stretch.
But more importantly for the NFL fan (and even the casual super bowl watching fan) it would allow the Super Bowl to be pushed back two weeks. Currently the Super Bowl is played the first Sunday in February (this upcoming season it is sunday February 2nd). If pushed back two weeks it would allow the game to be played on the sunday of Presidents day weekend. One of the biggest complaints about the super bowl by non-traditional football fans is "why does the game have to be played on a sunday night!!!??? They should play it Saturday!!".
Although I whole heartedly disagree that the game should be played on a Saturday (football is meant for Sunday) I do think pairing the game up with a long weekend would be more appealing to both the fans and to the league. You'd probably get more viewership throughout the game from the commercial watching fan since they wouldn't be worrying about getting up for work the next day. And the league could use the extra day of the long weekend as another opportunity for fan festivals, trophy celebrations, and media exposure for the hosting city. It also does not hurt that mid-february up until the time of march madness is a dead time for sports in the United States. I don't see why pushing the football season into winter as being a bad thing, do you?
Employees around the country that may read this blog i'm sure would agree that moving the super bowl to presidents day Sunday would not be a bad idea..it saves them a sick day that they can use in the summer when the weather is nice!
[Paul James' blog post was written for "The Kick is Good", a blog written about the upcoming NFL 2013 season. Find more posts at http://thekickisgoodblog.blogspot.com #506iv #byline and follow him on twitter @PJ_thekicksgood ]
Great article! I hope the Superbowl date stays the same. It looks like more cold weather stadiums will be getting the Superbowl in the near future. The later they have the Superbowl the more chance of snow. I am already worried about the game this coming season at MetLife. It could be a disaster if it snows.
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