For anyone who has attended the draft in New York City, it’s clear that the second evening and the third day lack the sizzle of the first night of the event.
The NFL knows it, too. Which could result in a dramatic change for the event.
The draft could be moving. To three cities in three days.
According to Don Banks of SI.com, the league is considering uprooting the draft from New York City and splitting the event over three cities per year, possibly with some geographic connection among the locations.
Banks presents as a potential for instance the first round happening in Chicago, the second and third rounds occurring in Detroit, and the balance taking place in Minnesota. (Packers fans, we’re merely passing along Banks’ example.)
The possibility remains in the planning stages, and the goal would be a fan-focused NFL road show that dispenses with the outdated exercise of manually delivering a card from a desk to the podium, like it’s a pizza.
In addition to lower costs resulting from team employees staying home, the league could realize increased revenues. As Banks points out, the destination of the draft could become the subject of a scaled-down Super Bowl competition, with cities offering all sorts of packages premised on, as Jim Irsay would call it, “SERIOUS Coin.”