TV execs face wild challenge of broadcasting 2020 NFL draft from homes

Remember when more than half a million people gathered in Nashville for three days last April?

ESPN’s Seth Markman does.

“Nashville was unbelievable,” he said. “Just an amazing experience for everybody.”

Las Vegas, in its own way, surely wouldn’t have been a step back on the NFL Draft’s traveling fun meter. Of course, the 2020 draft won’t actually be there — or anywhere, really.

Unbelievable? Absolutely. Memorable? Definitely.

Easy? Hahaha.

Broadcasting next week’s NFL draft from homes as a pandemic-restricted live event sets up to be an unprecedented and overwhelming challenge for a television veteran like Markman, ESPN’s vice president for production.

“This is the most complicated event that I personally have been involved in,” said Markman, who in June will hit 27 years at the network. “… Even though we’re working with smaller crews and in extraordinary times, I think we’re going to be fine, but until we actually see it on the air we can’t be 100% sure.”

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This three-day draft, beginning with Thursday night’s first round, will be a joint broadcast between ESPN and NFL Network, with ABC offering its own coverage Thursday and Friday.

Markman’s behind-the-scenes production staff members will be wearing masks as they take viewers through as many as 180 or 190 WiFi video feeds, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announcing draft picks at his home in New York. (If he’s booed this time, it’ll raise questions more interesting than the player’s name he’s about to read.)

OK, this probably won’t be a polished operation. But after a month of widespread sports starvation, who’s going to complain about a relative feast?

Thank you, NFL.

It might not have been the best thing for everyone that the league kept its foot on the gas this offseason, but a weary nation of sports fans appreciates it. That’s especially true for the draft, no matter what it’s going to look like on our television screens.

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