Last year, a lot of NFL fans complained when ESPN and NFL Network analysts used Twitter to reveal who was going to be selected in the 2012 NFL Draft well before the actual picks were announced. It made watching the draft a moot point. After all, why sit and watch the the draft if you already know exactly which players are going to be picked?
This year, ESPN and the NFL Network have agreed not to make the same mistake again. So, for the first two rounds of the draft, they are not going to allow their analysts to tweet out picks before they take place. That means that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be the first person to reveal which players teams select.
"Our fans have told us they would rather hear from the Commissioner and I think it is a better TV show when we speculate and let the Commissioner do it," ESPN NFL senior coordinating producer Seth Markman told Sports Illustrated. "I have said in the past that [ESPN reporters] Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen can basically announce all the picks before they are made if they really wanted to. It goes against a lot of our instincts as journalists and it's totally different than anything I deal with, but we feel like it is a win for the fans and our viewers."
It most certainly is. But, we have to ask: Are other networks/publications/blogs going to use it as an excuse to do some extra reporting and announce picks prior to the Commissioner's announcements? To be honest, we really hope not. It ruins the experience of watching the draft. But, thanks to Twitter, we wouldn't be surprised at all to see it happen again this year, even if ESPN and the NFL Network are agreeing not to do it.
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[via Sports Illustrated]
