REPORT: 2020 NFL Draft postponed, will not be held in Las Vegas
We get an extra month of mock drafts.
The 2020 NFL Draft has reportedly been delayed from its traditional April date due to the coronavirus outbreak. Pro Football Weekly's Hub Arash reported on Saturday that a source indicated the draft, scheduled for April 23-25 on the Las Vegas Strip, will be postponed until May at the earliest and not be held in Las Vegas.
I've seen this refuted on Twitter by Vincent Bonsignore, who is about as well known to me as Hub Arkush, but he does have a blue checkmark on Twitter and named his source that shot it down. (NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy) I hope it's a case of a media person trying to get clicks because it's pretty unnecessary to postpone the draft.
Yeah, postponing seems pointless. The just lose a bit of the pomp and circumstances by not having as many people present,. Sure it stinks for some of the kids who would have been invited, but I'm sure when they start cashing those first round checks they'll get over it quickly enough.
One issue is that folks that didn't receive combine invites are going to be penalized. The entire draft process post round 5 or so could get pretty screwy. Most schools haven't held pro days yet, so outside of the top echelon of players, there will be a significantly larger quantity of unknowns moving into the draft as planned.
March 15th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
They could literally do the whole thing online. And all the draft and scouting pros have nothing better to do than review tape at this point anyhow. If there's one sporting event that shouldn't be affected by the pandemic, it's the NFL draft.
If you want to have some fun thinking about how much of an unnecessary production the entirety of the draft is, just go back and listen to some of the old audio recordings of it from the early 1980s. It’s the commissioner and team execs, sounding like a bunch of mouthy dudes hanging out in a sports bar.
Well said. Hopefully that is the case.
They can't suspend our fantasy drafts!
I get not having it in Vegas, and if you want a closed door event where even the players can’t attend, then so be it. Social distancing and all that.
But there is zero reason to actually postpone the thing. You could have Goodell, the commentators, and team decision-makers all in different secluded locations and still make it work. And your ratings would be on a record scale considering there’s nothing else sports-related on for the foreseeable future.
March 15th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
March 15th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
Hey where's that fake Johns Hopkins grad who is clearly butt hurt about not getting into Michigan? It's Sunday and I don't see my Google site or millions of tests being done in the United States.
Just do the whole thing on the internet. Team employees videoconference with each other over Zoom. Submit an email to the league with the selection. The league posts the selection on google docs. Find a way to live stream each team's videoconference rooms. Use twitch or whatever. Player reactions over Facetime. Make it extra bootleg for novelty's sake. With absolutely no live sports to watch on the telly and the bizzaro novelty of this setup imagine how many people would tune in out of fascination.