The 2020 NFL Draft is one of the only sporting events happening during the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, April 23, the first round will take place, and things are going to be much different this year. Here is all the schedule information needed to watch the league catapult college stars into their future careers.
Round one of the draft will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern and run for approximately 3.5 hours. Rounds two and three will start at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday night, and they should end up going around the same length of time. Saturday will finish things off with the final four rounds starting at noon Eastern.
Since there isn’t much going on in the world of sports elsewhere, all seven rounds of the draft will air on ESPN, NFL Network, and ABC. Pro Football Talk is reporting that ESPN and the NFL Network are working together to present the draft across both networks.
The scheduled location of Las Vegas for this year’s NFL Draft couldn’t happen due to the coronavirus pandemic. All 32 NFL teams will operate virtually from remote locations with Commissioner Roger Goodell announcing the picks from the basement of his New York home.
The remote locations could make the draft even more interesting than usual. Having teams and players coming in across multiple feeds could make for interrupted streams, missed picks, and several other problems.
Even though there could be technical issues, the NFL has chosen not to give teams additional time for each pick. The league is reportedly going to deal with any problems when and if they arise.
The NFL sent cameras to the homes of 58 collegiate players for the stay-at-home draft. This will allow the players to join in on the broadcast if and when different NFL teams choose them.
The camera in each prospect’s home will always be on during the draft to create a virtual green room. After being selected, the player will have a virtual “stage walk” to another camera where they’ll interact with the commissioner.
For those who can’t watch on television, there will be numerous streaming options.
- CBS Sports HQ
- fuboTV
- Sling TV
- ESPN app
- NFL app
- DAZN (Canada)
The Cincinnati Bengals are already on the clock with the first overall pick, and they aren’t planning on trading it away. According to virtually every mock draft since the season ended, LSU’s Joe Burrow will be the top selection of the draft.
