NFL Bets Football-Hungry Fans Will Pick Prime-Time Draft Show

April 22 (Bloomberg) — The National Football League is pitting its annual draft against television’s prime-time lineup for the first time tonight, hoping footage of pro teams choosing college players will compete with “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.”

The U.S.’s most-watched television sport this year moved the first round of its draft from Saturday afternoon, where it received a record audience last year, to Thursday night, where it will face network shows including CBS’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and NBC’s “30 Rock.”

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Frank Hawkins, a founding partner of Scalar Media Partners, LLC, a New York-based consulting group, said the NFL is betting that there’s so much interest in the sport — this year’s Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. television history — that the draft can beat playoff games in hockey and basketball.

“It’s a smart move,” said Hawkins, 51, the former NFL senior vice president of business affairs. “The competition is going to be early-season baseball, early-round basketball playoffs. Those people who are fascinated with the NFL, and there are a ton of them, are likely to tune in.”

The NFL draft, which begins tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City — with University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford and University of Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh — is already a big event for cable television. The 2009 draft attracted a record 39 million combined viewers for Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, ESPN2 and the league’s NFL Network.

Changed Schedule

This year’s will be shown on ESPN and the NFL Network starting at 7:30 p.m. New York time. “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” was watched by an average of 13.5 million viewers each week, according to Nielsen Co. data for the season through April 18. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was watched by 15.8 million, and “30 Rock” by 6.9 million.

In July, the NFL moved the first round to prime time and extended the draft to three days for the first time. The first round, with the St. Louis Rams holding the No. 1 pick, begins today at 7:30 p.m. New York time. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held tomorrow evening, with Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday afternoon. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the move would make “the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television.”

Fan Participation

David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles, said the move may spawn more draft parties, boost excitement on location in New York and increase sponsorship opportunities. Unlike other sports leagues, he said, the NFL doesn’t need to worry about oversaturation.

“What we’ve learned from NFL fans is that they’re not anywhere near that threshold yet,” Carter said in a telephone interview from his office. “There’s a chance now to convert this into a different kind of event than it has been historically.

The league is planning a different kind of event. Charles Coplin, the NFL’s vice president of programming, said it is inviting at least 18 draft prospects, along with Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Jim Brown. There will be celebrity guests and even a red carpet.

Coplin said the draft is a participatory experience in which fans can applaud or second guess teams’ front-office decisions as they happen.

“The appetite for football, and everything about football, continues to increase,” Coplin said in a telephone interview from his New York office. “Everybody familiar with the game knows what’s at stake on draft night.”

Coplin said he thinks holding the first round in prime time will help build momentum for the other rounds, allowing fans time to analyze teams’ progress over a number of days.

Two Sports

Jay Rothman, senior coordinating producer for ESPN, who has worked on draft telecasts since 1995, said the event is a “logistical bear” to broadcast, requiring months of preparation and coordination, with crews around the country. Moving the first round to prime time will allow the network to focus on it for a day, before the later rounds follow “like an express train.”

“The draft is the confluence of two of the most-popular sports: college football and the NFL,” Rothman said. “I think it’s a great move. The place is going to be electric.”

Little Risk

Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports, said the NFL faces little risk by moving the draft to prime time and says he’s almost certain the move will yield ratings bumps for the league’s NFL Network and ESPN.

“That’s where the big events go — to prime time,” said Pilson, president of Pilson Communications, Inc. in Chappaqua, New York. “It’s remarkable how the NFL continues to dominate the sports landscape. They have devised not a better mousetrap, but the best mousetrap.”

Hawkins said the draft doesn’t face much competition from other sports broadcasts, including first-round National Basketball Association playoff games between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

“This is a premier event,” Hawkins said. “Why? Who knows. They think they can do better in prime time when there are more households watching TV. I think it’s highly likely that it’s the right gamble.”

By Aaron Kuriloff