All I want for Christmas is Ndamukong Suh

April 23, 2010 • 12:38 pm • POSTED BY stephen penning

I’ve written before about the NFL’s ability to expand what is essentially a four month season into a year long engagement. This past Tuesday they again managed to turn coal into diamonds and they didn’t have to squeeze that hard. In the midst of the NBA and NHL playoffs the NFL managed to get two hours of prime time coverage on ESPN. For what? Not a game. Not a Tiger Woods interview. But the release of the 2010 schedule.

Think about that for a second. The NBA and NHL both have long, grueling seasons that culminate with the best teams fighting to be crowned champions. The NFL season is four months away but the release of the schedule and the surrounding hoopla around match-ups, projections and rankings is enough to draw an audience away from athletes actually playing sports at an extremely high level. While I haven’t been able to find out how the two hour schedule release special did in the ratings I have to imagine it performed well.

The schedule release though is a mere appetizer for the NFL ‘s Thursday, Friday and Saturday extravaganza. This year the league has taken the draft to new heights. Instead of it starting on a Saturday and getting through the mildly entertaining first three rounds in an afternoon the NFL has taken the draft to prime time. Now tonight at 7:30 you can find out (hold your breath) who the Buccaneers will take with the 67th pick.

While it may seem like NFL overload the league is merely giving its hardcore fans what they demand. More and more NFL related content. NPR did a piece this morning on fans that attend the draft. Some travel thousands of miles to see what the future make up of their team could look like. When asked about his attendance one fan equated the draft to Christmas. If this is truly the case then for some the NFL is the gift that keeps on giving.