The NFL is Now the Most Powerful Organization in the World
Written by B-Dub, Tuesday April 20 2010
Forget IBM or Microsoft, the most powerful organization in the world is the National Football League. Who else could get 39 million people, according to the 2009 Nielsen television ratings, to watch a bunch of guys sit around and pick college players? Who else except the NFL would have the balls to even try to get people to watch such an event?
The NFL draft draws more viewers annually than the actual games of other sports. And nine of the top ten highest-rated programs in the history of television are Super Bowls. The only exception is the final episode of M*A*S*H, when there was only about 6 channels to choose from. As a result, the NFL has decided to flex its considerable ratings muscle and move its draft into prime time on ESPN and the NFL Network.
The 75th NFL draft will be moving from Saturday and Sunday afternoon into prime time starting on Thursday night. The 7:30 pm EST starting time will put it head-to-head with ratings monsters like Survivor, CSI and Grey's Anatomy. Personally I'm betting on the NFL to kick their asses.
"We look at it as a great opportunity," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during the NFL's owner meetings last month. "The idea of being able to take it from a Saturday afternoon start to starting it in prime time on April 22, Thursday night, we think is just going to expose it to a much broader audience and we've got a lot of marketing and entertainment ideas that I think we are going to implement over those days. We think it's going to be a terrific thing for our fans."
Some of those "marketing and entertainment ideas" that Goodell spoke about are geared toward generating even more pageantry around an event that isn't even a competition. On Thursday, ESPN and the NFL Network will have a predraft red carpet event featuring top prospects and NFL Hall of Famers interviewed by the NFL Network's Deion Sanders. I can't stand Sanders, but it can't just be a coincidence that he was chosen for this assignment. His nickname during his playing days was "Prime Time".
Hell, this event is so big that even the draft order chart on the league's website is sponsored by Lexus. Other leagues can't get a television deal or even sponsors and the NFL can get a luxury car-maker to sponsor a listing of the draft order on their website? It's the NFL's world; we all just live in it.
In the past when the draft started on a Saturday afternoon, housewives, teenagers and even casual football fans might have gone to the mall or the golf course, but now they are more likely tune in at night. It's part of the genius that is the NFL. When the draft was on a weekend afternoon, you had to plan your whole day around sitting in front of the TV. Only diehard fans, like me, did that which makes the 39 million viewers last season all the more impressive. Now even more people are sure to watch.
In addition to the prime time start, the NFL is also spreading the draft over three days. The first round will begin on Thursday night at 7:30 pm EST. Round two will start on Friday night at 6 pm. And rounds 3 through 7 will start on Saturday morning at 10 am.
This is a far cry from the very fist NFL draft in 1936. Back then the nine-team, 81-player draft was held in Philadelphia's Ritz-Carlton hotel, not Radio City Music Hall, where it is held today. The Philadelphia Eagles had the first-ever draft pick and took University of Chicago's Jay Berwanger, the winner of the first Heisman Trophy. In typical Eagles fashion, they were never able to sign Berwanger. There is no truth to the rumor that it was because he was booed at the draft.
The Chicago Bears acquired the rights to Berwanger, but refused his salary demands of $25,000 over two years. Instead of playing football, Berwanger became a foam-rubber salesman. Yes, really. I couldn't make that up if I tried. Last year's No. 1 pick, Lions QB Matthew Stafford, got a six-year deal worth as much as $78 million, with $41.7 million guaranteed. Sadly, I couldn't make that up if I tried either.
The NFL is a business and it has become a very big business. The draft will surely dominate the TV ratings in its first foray into prime time. ESPN and the NFL Network will most likely get their highest ratings ever. And that will lead to more money for the NFL in the form of television rights fees and advertising.
Make no mistake about it. The NFL is all about making money and they are damn good at it. This move to prime time is all about making money and it will work. The NFL's popularity has engulfed all of the other sports. The NFL is now so big that it can put events on in prime time that aren't even games and they will beat the ratings of the playoffs games of the NBA and the NHL. Now that's powerful.
Finally, I noticed that the NFL Draft is on the same day as "Earth Day" this year. How ironic that over 40 million people will watch the NFL draft and less than half that many will even realize that it's "Earth Day". Like I said, it's the NFL's world; we all just live in it.
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3 comments
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I gotta say. I love the new draft format in Prime time. I DON'T like Deion "Prime time" Sanders doing interviews for the NFL Network though.
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Hey this was my 100th Feature Article so I had to bring out the Big Guns. Besides, I wrote the obvious article on Mel Kiper LAST year.
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Well done B-Dub! The most powerful and still growing, for sure.