Quietly, broadcast rights for the NFL Draft are up next year, meaning for the first time in nearly 50 years, it could air somewhere other than ESPN. And the network’s host for the event, Mike Greenberg, is planting his flag on wanting the Worldwide Leader to keep it, saying recently he would be “heartbroken” if ESPN lost the rights.
In an interview on The Sports Media Podcast released Wednesday, Greenberg explained why the NFL Draft is his favorite event to broadcast and his hopes for ESPN to fight to continue airing it.
“It is my two favorite days of the year,” Greenberg said. “It is like the Super Bowl. I’ve covered nearly 28 Super Bowls, something like that. It has the feel in town of the Super Bowl; the way it takes over the city is incredible. And it’s just another evidence of the National Football League’s genius, that they are able to take essentially the reading of several people’s names and turn it into something this captivating, of this magnitude.”
Earlier this year, John Ourand of Puck reported that while ESPN was “likely” to renew its contract to broadcast the NFL Draft, there would be additional suitors. After the entry of streamers like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix into sports broadcasting in recent years and the significant inventory the NFL Draft offers across Thursday, Friday and Saturday toward the end of April, the league is likely to at least benefit from a bidding war, even if ESPN ultimately keeps the rights.
Greenberg sees firsthand each year how big the draft is both in the host city and among fans watching from home. He believes it would be a disappointment for ESPN to lose the draft and personally hopes to keep it in his job description as long as possible.
“Common sense says it’s incredibly important. It’s a huge night that the audience is incredibly engaged and into it,” Greenberg said. “I get more reaction; I get more feedback to that first night of the NFL Draft than I do, I think, to anything else, I do because people are just so passionate about it. So I think it stands to reason that it’s an incredibly important event. I would be heartbroken if we didn’t have it anymore because I personally love doing it, and I think the magnitude of the event speaks for itself.”
Greenberg took over draft hosting duties in 2021, following the departure of Trey Wingo from ESPN.
If it’s up to him, it sounds like he never wants to stop.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.