SBJ Football: Show Must Go On For NFL Draft

Last night, I took a solitary walk through downtown Brooklyn, where businesses are empty and apartments are full of people sheltering in place. My route took me by Brooklyn Hospital Center, which appeared quiet at first. But a closer look showed signs of what the New York Times documented yesterday: A frantic war against coronavirus. I could see heavily protected nurses speaking with patients inside a temporary tent by the E.R. Then, an exhausted-looking man in scrubs walked out of the main entrance and removed his mask. It was a reminder of the heroism in our midst.

NFL SEES LIMITED UPSIDE TO POSTPONING DRAFT

• The NFL has endured criticism from both media commentators and its own teams for continuing offseason business during the COVID-19 crisis, most recently this week for insisting next month's draft is on schedule. But if the draft goes anything like the start of free agency did, those critics will end up as footnotes compared to the much broader, mostly positive response to *some* kind of sports news surviving the crisis. 
  

• Aside from the obvious goal of delivering promised high-value content for ESPN, ABC and NFL Network, fear of the unknown undergirds the entire league rationale, my sources say. If Roger Goodell and owners knew for sure that postponing the draft would improve things, then it might be taken as a more serious option. But with the pandemic’s course so difficult to predict, who’s to say anything will be different in a month, or six weeks? All they know right now is this: Delaying the draft would have knock-on effects into the rest of the offseason. As one source said: “The more we can get on with business now without delays, the better chance we have to get ready for the season.” 
  

• Objections to the draft are coming almost entirely from the football side -- coaches and GMs who can’t do their usual in-person prospect meetings. Owners, on the other hand, are content as long as they’re certain no team has a competitive disadvantage. But watch that space. Right now, the league-ordered shutdown on team facilities runs through April 8. Against public health advice, President Trump is pushing to lift some virus mitigation orders by April 12. The draft starts April 23. If any teams are subject to different working conditions than others in that window (think the Seahawks, 49ers, Rams, Chargers, Jets and Giants in particular), the competitive balance issue will get the owners’ attention quickly.

WWE TROUBLES, MCMAHON TRANSACTION RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT XFL

• We have no reason to doubt the XFL when it says it’s coming back in 2021. Season-ticket renewals are ongoing, and there have been no layoffs. The league has plans in place to start a fresh sales push once the worst has passed. But…
  
  

• On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported a big stock transaction that underscores the troubles faced by WWE and Vince McMahon, the founder and owner of the XFL. Columnist Tara Lachapelle took it as reason to doubt McMahon's ability to retain control of WWE. This comes after the company lost 60% of its value in the equity market in the last year, a decline that started long before COVID-19 shut down the sports and entertainment economy. With WrestleMania forgoing on-site sales, the situation appears even more dire going forward.

• The sports industry has always given the relaunched XFL a better chance than most startup football leagues for one reason: The immense personal wealth and commitment of McMahon, who pledged to spend $500 million to get it off the ground. That pledge looks much different today than it did when he made it in June 2018. The pandemic is changing life quickly for all of us, including McMahon, who first started to fund the new XFL by selling shares in WWE in 2017. This is an angle that I will continue to monitor.

NBC SPORTS, NFL HEAD DOWN "SNF" MEMORY LANE

• “Sunday Night Football” executive producer Fred Gaudelli had a fun task last week: Decide which 17 “SNF” games from NBC’s 14-year run to feature on “Football Week in America,” a new series of classic games beginning Monday on NBCSN. I asked him how he chose: “The No. 1 priority was games that people remember, or something happened in that game that became a big deal,” he told me. “Most of the games come right down to the end, but not all of them. There were stories in some of the other games that were just that good.”
  
  
• The reruns start at 7pm Monday with Peyton and Eli Manning's first head-to-head matchup, which was also the very first NBC "SNF" game. (That’s one of two games that feature John Madden in the analyst chair). Gaudelli’s favorite might be 2009 Patriots-Colts, when Bill Belichick’s offense failed to convert a daring fourth-and-2 deep in its own territory. Or Seahawks-Pats in 2016, the rematch of Super Bowl XLIX featuring Seattle’s goal line stand in Foxborough. Gaudelli: “We’ve been fortunate. We’ve had some classics. I could have programmed 51 nights of this.” 
  
  
• Most are high-scoring, drama-filled affairs. But the series includes Tony Romo’s first game (a blowout win), and a quintessential AFC North matchup from 2010 (Steelers 13, Ravens 10.) During the broadcasts, NBCSN’s live ticker will feature fan tweets about the games and information about COVID-19 relief efforts. What are NBC Sports and the NFL’s ratings aspirations? To beat the early spring averages for NBCSN primetime, which would usually involve high-stakes, late-season NHL matchups.

SPEED READS

• Sick of showing your house to your coworkers on your pandemic video chats? A couple of teams unleashed a solution this week: Team-themed downloadable backgrounds. Here’s the Panthers, and here's the Giants. The Panthers are going for more of an action-shot look, while the Giants offer a chance to look like you’re doing a press conference. So far, these backgrounds don’t have any sponsor brands. For now.

• The Chicago Sun-Times' Steve Greenberg took the Bears to task for sticking to their March 20 deadline for season-ticket payments. "Fifty percent of NFL teams have pushed back payment deadlines as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. It was the right thing to do. Life is stressful enough these days without pressure from teams such as the Bears that stuck to their original deadlines." A late update on this topic from D.C.: A Redskins season-ticket holder says the team has pushed its deadline from April 1 to May 1, per an email received this morning.
  
  
• SI's Michael McCann breaks down Lamar Jackson's lawsuit against Amazon, as the reigning MVP is suing the retail giant for unfairly profiting from apparel playing off his public image and catch phrases. McCann writes Amazon "might attempt to distance itself from the products mentioned in Jackson’s complaint by claiming it is not their true seller." In doing so, Amazon would "need to explain the meaning and boundaries of the phrase, 'shipped and sold by Amazon.com.'”
  
  
• Should the NFL Draft go ahead as planned next month, teams likely won’t have a chance for face-to-face meetings for prospects with character concerns or medical issues. Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor: “That is the most fascinating thing we’re going to see going forward. I feel like, provided the season goes on as scheduled, this is going to be an unusual opportunity for us to see which teams can really scout. And we’ll have tangible proof of it.” 

• Are the Panthers rebuilding or looking to remain competitive? The Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Clark, appearing on Ryen Russillo’s podcast, cast doubt on the signing of QB Teddy Bridgewater -- especially one year before Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence is likely to become available in the Draft. “If I was an owner right now in that zone of where you don’t really have a plan, I would try to blow it up. If you’re [coach] Matt Rhule, wouldn’t you rather have Trevor Lawrence after this than two more years of Teddy Bridgewater at $20 million per?”

• Count longtime NFL front office exec Mike Lombardi among those that believe Peyton Manning keeps resisting the ESPN booth due to a desire to run a team. “(Peyton) wants to be part owner of a team. I think he wants to be the Michael Jordan of the NFL. And I’m not sure Tom Brady doesn’t want to do that either." On the “GM Shuffle” podcast, Lombardi’s co-host Adnan Virk touched on how those ownership goals hinder networks from landing recently retired high-profile players. “Unfortunately, there’s just not many out there that want to do it. The biggest reason is, in the past those guys weren’t paid the way guys are today. … Peyton and Brady, those guys have accumulated enough wealth to go in a different direction like Jordan has done. Derek Jeter with the Marlins. These guys are not clamoring to get into TV. You have to really want to do it.”

Something on the football beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (bfischer@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).