NFL may begin draft on Friday to extend its ratings bonanza
The biggest hitch in starting the much-hyped event a day sooner is making sure the first round is done in a timely manner without jeopardizing the process.
Judd Zulgad
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Last update: May 03, 2007 – 8:16 PM
This bit of news should come as no surprise, given the type of ratings the NFL draft continues to produce.
According to an industry source, the league has had preliminary discussions about moving the first round into prime time on Friday. The remaining rounds would be conducted on Saturday and Sunday.
The thinking on this issue appears to be twofold. One, carrying the opening round in prime time means more viewers would be available to watch. Two, some NFL officials believe it would be a good idea to give teams time to decompress before Round 2.
The question becomes how much higher can the ratings get for an event in which the highlight is hearing names called?
The first 4 ½ hours of ESPN's coverage last Saturday had a 5.0 rating -- the network's Sunday night baseball is averaging a 2.8 -- and overall it finished as the second-most viewed draft and tied for the second-highest rated in ESPN's 28 years of televising the event. (The Twin Cities averaged a 3.5 rating, placing Minneapolis-St. Paul 38th out of 55 metered markets.) The NFL Network, which also aired the draft, averaged 367,000 viewers Saturday, beating 26 of the first 30 NHL playoff games that had aired on Versus through April 29.
The biggest issue with having Round 1 of the draft at night would be making sure it could be done in a reasonable amount of time. Saturday's first round took 6 hours, 8 minutes, easily topping the previous high of 5:48 set in 2002. But getting it shortened might be a challenge because there doesn't seem to be much of an appetite from NFL officials to cut down on the current 15 minutes between picks.
A big difference
FSN North began receiving accurate ratings information from Nielsen in mid-April after a glitch caused the media research company to provide the regional sports network with under-reported figures for more than a year. If the new numbers are any indication, FSN is going to be raising its advertising rates.
A few examples: Before the correction, Game 3 of the Wild-Anaheim playoff series on April 15 registered a 2.4 rating. Game 5 of the same series, with the problem fixed, had a 7.0 rating, a 190 percent improvement and the second-highest rated Wild game ever on FSN North. As for the Twins, in the eight games before the correction, they averaged a 5.1 rating. That figure grew by 61 percent to an 8.2 in the eight games after the fix.
Hits and misses
• This probably isn't what the management at Versus wants to see, but one of the best things the network has done during its NHL playoff coverage is pick up the feeds of certain games from the Canadian Broadcasting Company and TSN, which is Canada's version of ESPN. It was actually a bit disappointing Wednesday to find out the San Jose-Detroit game would be a Versus production.
• Was it just me or did tensions between analysts Chris Mortensen and Steve Young seem to be running a bit high during ESPN's NFL draft coverage? It's one thing to debate various topics, it's another to have those debates make viewers uncomfortable.
Fine-tuning
• The Twins plan to increase Jack Morris' role on their radio broadcasts. Originally scheduled to be in the booth for 35 games on KSTP (1500 AM), Morris is now expected to work 45 to 50 contests. This will include all Sunday home games. Herb Carneal, who passed away just before the season, had been slated to work Sunday games from the Metrodome.
• Charles Gonzalez, a sports reporter and anchor at KARE (Ch. 11), is leaving the station for a job at KSAT-TV in his hometown of San Antonio. Gonzalez and his wife, Monika, are new parents and will be closer to family.
• The Winter Arbitron book (January, February and March) came out Thursday. Sports-talker KFAN (1130 AM) tied with 93X for second in the market with a 7.3 share from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday in its key demographic of men 25 to 54 years old. ... WCCO (830-AM), meanwhile, saw a substantial growth among persons 25 to 54 during its sports-programming hours of 7 p.m. to midnight in March, pulling a 5.9 share. That was up from a 4.6 last year. The success of the Wild likely played the biggest role. A more detailed breakdown of the book will be out in the coming days.
• KFAN and WCCO are planning horse-racing coverage from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday. KFAN will carry ESPN Radio's call of the Kentucky Derby; 'CCO, meanwhile, will be at Canterbury Park for the opening day of races. ... NBC is expanding its Kentucky Derby coverage to two hours; the network will be on the air at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and post time is 5:04 p.m. NBC will then premiere its documentary on Barbaro at 7 p.m.
• The Gophers football game against Ohio State on Sept. 29 at the Metrodome is a candidate to be televised in prime time on ABC. If that doesn't happen, it will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. ... ESPN2's New York City-based "Cold Pizza," will relocate to Bristol, Conn., and become known "First Take" as of Monday morning.
• Vikings coach Brad Childress will be in studio with Mark Rosen for his show at 10:35 p.m. Sunday on Ch. 4.
• Coon Rapids' Jim Manthis, the PGA golf professional of the year, will be among those featured as part of a show from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
