I am a huge college football fan and I enjoy the idea of the NFL Draft but let’s face it, unless you are a hardcore NFL fan, it’s just not very fun to watch. Here are five ways to make the NFL Draft, and specifically the coverage of the NFL Draft, more fun….
Guest Hosts
ESPN has Chris Berman and the NFL Network has Rich Eisen. Let’s bring an entertainer in to give the coverage a different perspective. How bout Amy Poehler and Tina Fey? Maybe Daniel Tosh or Chris Hardwick (yeah, I know he doesn’t know anything about sports but he can award “points” to analysts for good comments)? Really anybody who can liven things up and crack a few jokes.
Hair vs Hair
Currently, one of the most entertaining aspects of the draft is Mel Kiper’s hair. What if there was the threat that he would get his head shaved if his picks weren’t up to par? Let’s put Mel Kiper and Todd McShay in a first round “hair vs hair” face-off. Whichever “expert” hits on the least amount of picks gets his head shaved live on TV after the first round is over.
Bring in Billy Eichner to do post-pick interviews
The interviews of the talent after they are picked are all the same. Let’s bring in Billy Eichner, of Billy on the Street, to mix things up.
Live Performances
There was a lot of noise on social media this week about draftees getting to pick their own walk-up music. Let’s get four or five of these artists to play live at the NFL Draft after the player who has chosen their music gets picked. Surely Kings of Leon, Drake, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West would be more entertaining then talking about why someone is moving down the draft board.
Spruce up the Green Room
The “waiting room” for the prospects is depressing. Why not make the green room a “fun room”. Let a company like Dave and Busters sponsor the Green Room. They can bring in a mini-arcade and instead of watching the draftees sit at a table and wait…we can watch them challenge each other in Mario Kart, bowling, hoops or billiards.
Turn rounds 4-7 into a lottery
After the first three rounds, there is very little for a fan to watch and get excited about. Fans might tune in when their team is slotted to pick but beyond that there isn’t much to watch. What if you didn’t know when your team would pick and your team could get a better pick? Just like the NBA Draft lottery, give all teams a lottery ball for each pick they have in the round and let the machine decide who gets each pick during the round. Not only would this be interesting for fans to see but it would keep teams and analysts on their toes.
In case you didn’t notice during the course of reading this article, none of these are going to happen but wouldn’t it be nice if the NFL did something to add a little fun into the NFL Draft?
