Another team at draft
Tomorrow, the hoopla maelstrom churned by the ESPN empire kicks into high gear, as the draft that the sports conglomerate has hyped for months finally takes place at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
For ESPN, the two-day event has become a batting-practice meatball, one that marries football's unparalleled popularity with the company's numerous platforms, turning the NFL draft into its annual home run.
While the Bristol, Conn., behemoth continues its charge toward a sporting-world takeover that Pinky and the Brain would admire, one outlet will go head-to-head with ESPN to provide live draft coverage, making 2006 the first time two networks will cover the event.
To challenge ESPN and the draftnik who has become a brand -- even casual fans associate the draft with Mel Kiper Jr. -- is a challenging task. But the network led by Steve Bornstein, the former ESPN chairman, has three letters leading its name that give it a fighting chance. Executives of the NFL Network, which begins coverage with a predraft show tomorrow at 11 a.m., trip over themselves to praise ESPN.
''They do such an unbelievable job with the draft and all their NFL coverage," said executive producer Eric Weinberger. ''We only hope to supplement what they're already doing so phenomenally."
One employee is aiming higher. Draft expert Mike Mayock, a Boston College graduate who is the NFL Network's version of Kiper, was asked whether the league-owned outlet would someday be a supplement or an alternative to ESPN's coverage.
''Hopefully the latter," said Mayock.
''What makes Mike so unique is that he looks at not only the individual kids but he also looks at the 32 NFL teams -- where they can be fixed, helped, or hurt," Weinberger said. ''He's taking on two different angles. He's not just being a senior class guru, but how these kids fit into NFL systems. He's so savvy on every defensive scheme and every offensive scheme that all 32 teams play."
Mayock was a defensive back for the Eagles from 1977-80 and was selected by Pittsburgh in the 10th round of the 1981 draft, then played for the New York Giants from 1982-84. After retiring, Mayock covered college football and other sports for ESPN, CBS, Fox Sports Net, and ABC Sports.
In 2003, when the NFL Network was launched, Mayock was hired to cover college football, transitioning into his current position as draft expert.
This season, as he did last year, Mayock started his prep work early. Mayock estimated that since September he's spent an average of five days per week at the NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel, N.J., breaking down video of draft-eligible players.
After every weekend, college coaches send game tapes to Mount Laurel, where the videos are dubbed and distributed to every NFL team for scouting. There, Mayock watches countless games -- the format is coaches' tape, the wide-angle views that captures all 22 players on the field -- and complements his viewing with calls to coaches, scouts, and executives around college and pro football.
''I know the other guys who have to evaluate do so off TV tape," Mayock said. ''There are so many games televised that you can tape just about anybody. But it's not coaches' tape. There's a huge difference between the two. That's what NFL teams use to evaluate and that's what I have to use. It's a tremendous advantage."
In January, Mayock and the network's cameras traveled to Mobile, Ala., to scout practices leading up to the Senior Bowl (the NFL Network announced Tuesday it will televise the annual game and week of practices). The following month, Mayock and his team traveled to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.
''We hope fans have been watching how we've been covering this since the beginning of the college football season," Weinberger said. ''We've been creating content and using content, really, for the last six to seven months as opposed to the last six to seven weeks."
''The commitment on the Mobile side is reflective of what you'll find on other platforms -- ESPN.com, the TV networks, radio," said ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer. ''These are the types of customized coverage that is desirable for NFL fans. All angles are covered."
Such is the appetite of today's football fans, who have raised draft interest to an all-time high. Mayock credited the NFL's popularity and the boom of fantasy football for creating this atmosphere, which will have he and on-air colleagues Rich Eisen, St. Louis Rams safety Corey Chavous, and reporters Adam Schefter and Kara Henderson facing off in Radio City Music Hall against ESPN's Chris Berman, Kiper, Tom Jackson, Michael Irvin, and Chris Mortensen.
The draft isn't the only event highlighting the NFL Network's investment. This year, it will carry eight regular-season games with Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth calling five of the games. Every Tuesday and Wednesday, four games from the previous weekend will be re-aired on the network.
''It shows the degree of world-class talent and world-class production value we'll bring to the telecasts," Bornstein said of the Gumbel-Collinsworth team. ''It ensures that satellite and cable operators will benefit. The NFL is by far the preeminent programming in all of TV. It sends a pretty strong signal to our operators about the product we're putting on the screen. We're here for the long haul. We're building a terrific programming asset. You want to be associated with it, and I expect they will."
But the NFL Network faces the problem ESPN conquered a long time ago: market penetration. ESPN is available in more than 90 million households. It boasts ''SportsCenter" -- the signature highlight show. It launched ESPN The Magazine in 1998. It has ESPN Radio and ESPN.com, the top sports site in the country.
In contrast, the NFL Network has 35 million subscribers and is not available on Time Warner Cable, although Bornstein said he hopes to strike a deal with the operator by this fall.
This year, the 27th season ESPN has aired the draft, channel surfers and point-and-clickers will most likely turn to the familiar Disney-owned network.
Mayock and his colleagues, however, remind fans that for the first time, they have another choice.
''I think ESPN has done a wonderful job in the years they've done this draft," said Mayock. ''Really, they're the reason people watch it. They feed the monster year-round with stories. We'll cover it a little differently and give fans another option. I truly believe our option is just as professional and well done. It's just a little different take on the whole situation. We've got an opportunity to step up and show people we can do a little different draft show."
