Amid the sweet smorgasbord of premiere sporting events this week, ranging from playoffs to boxing to the Kentucky Derby, the NFL is on the clock as the 2015 Draft looks to offer another generation of athletes the chance to launch their careers as potential superstars. Amid a move to Chicago, NFL Network is beefing up its own coverage of the event, which spans April 30- May 2, launching 50 remote locations outside of the Windy City, including 16 war room cameras and 17 reporters stationed in NFL cities and locations around the country. On the digital front, all of the NFL Network coverage can be viewed digitally on mobile through NFL Mobile from Verizon and on tablets, PCs and Xbox One and 360 is available through Watch NFL Network. Meanwhile, the platform will offer NFL Draft LIVE Presented by Courtyard, which will serve as the only way to watch each and every pick of the draft live from Rounds 1-7.
Overall, the channel will offer a record-high 53 hours of live coverage of the three-day event, as well as 79 hours of Draft Week coverage starting today at 6a with NFL AM. Just ahead of the 8p start on Thursday, the network offers NFL Draft Gold Carpet (marking the season-long 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl), with Melissa Stark and Kevin Frazier interviewing prospects when they arrive. As the picks begin, the inside deck will see Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock, Steve Mariucci, and Stanford head coach David Shaw on microphone duties. Sponsorship elements will see TD Ameritrade sponsor the Path to the Draft, Lexus signing on for NFL Draft Kickoff, Verizon on-board for the NFL Draft, Bridgestone partnering for NFL TA Post Draft, and Pizza Hut supporting Mayock Mock Draft. Meanwhile, NFL.com’s coverage of the 2015 NFL Draft is presented by Verizon, McDonald’s and New Era.
Cynopsis Sports spoke with NFL Network Executive Producer Eric Weinberger about the event.
Weinberger on takeaways from the 2014 Draft: We learned the value of the college coaches that we use on our coverage. The past few years, we have used college coaches exclusively on day 3. We are now using one every day, beginning with David Shaw from Stanford on Thursday night. We’ve really liked the perspective that they have brought to this coverage, which is bringing all of football together. Another thing we are leveraging is our consistent growth at the team sites. So between the War Room coverage, and then the Thursday Night Draft parties at the team sites, we continue to learn how much this show affects 32 nations simultaneously. We are deploying so many people and cameras to capture that.
On Chicago: We are excited about it. There are really two set locations: an indoor one, which will have some of our talent, and then outside in Grant Park where the city of Chicago is hoping for a Lollapalooza-type atmosphere that we will be showcasing as well. The location of this theater is really allowing us to activate with so many fan experiences to continue to grow this great fan celebratory atmosphere that this great event seems to keep building. To change a venue like this always adds a new element and intrigue to the atmosphere.
On NFL Network coverage vs. ESPN’s: I can only go with what I know they’ve done in the past, but I know that we have taken an approach that is much more outside the city than what they are focusing on. They tend to focus on the kids who are in the building on Thursday night. We have made it a priority for our production to show what is going on at the 32 venues where the fan interaction is going on and the front office is working on building these teams.
On balancing the linear/digital strategy: I wouldn’t use the word “balance.” We really try to flood the fan with as much content as we can. At these events, we have to take a look at how many fans are interacting with this event on whatever platform they are choosing. Many times, they are choosing multiple platforms at once. We just got out of a 90-minute draft meeting that is fully integrating all of our social/digital/television heads and pulling all that content together so that the fan has all the same content on whatever platform they want to see it on. We don’t look at these different platforms as competing at all. Instead, we look at it as enhancing the way the fan is consuming this content.
