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I thought the draft didn't start until 3:00 p.m., but the countdown thing at the top of the page has it starting at noon. I don't know if I'll be able to function in normal society until such time as it has been fixed.

Then again, I'm not 100% sure I can function in normal society as it is.

I couldn't find any confirmation anywhere as to what time it actually started, so I set it to 12:00 noon.

If there is linkable confirmation that it starts at 3:00pm, I'll get it corrected.

Browns Draft Day Party

I couldn't really find anything concrete, but this shows the Browns' Draft Day Party doesn't start until 3:00, which would lead to the conclusion that that's what time the draft starts.

It's always started at noon in the past.

POST DELETED-RUMOR

IIRC the draft is supposed to start at like 6 or 7pm this year. With the reduction to just the 1st and 2nd rounds on day one, they wanted to put it in primetime.

POST DELETED- BLOG

Yeah, I knew they were talking about it starting later. I dunno if I can wait that long on Saturday.... I'm gonna get impatient waiting for it to start up.

But it also gives me a lot more time to get the food and stuff ready. It's tough to get set up, pick up pizza and wings and be ready to go by noon like it used to be.

Television coverage is scheduled on the NFL Network for starting at 4 p.m.

web page

The NFL Network draft coverage starts at 4pm

NFL Network says so here:

Not a grump, just very sarcastic......and again the board threw in the extra http when I linked......as well as continuing to eat replies here and there.

My deepest and sincerest apologies Saintdawg!

Just clicking:

The event isn't even listed at all on Radio City Music Hall's website.
I saw a single bit of text in a Google result that claimed the doors there open at 11am, but the event doesn't begin until 7:33pm... obviously, there is no validity to that as it cannot be confirmed, however it is curious. The time listed for NFL Networks TV coverage is the only thing verifiable at this time. There seems to be a concerted effort to hide this information as it has been more than readily available in all previous years, but it is conspicuously missing everywhere this year. My sincere guess is that the TV coverage will begin at 4:00pm and the draft itself won't start for two, three or more hours after that.... that lets the Draft hit primetime in all four timezones.

That will really suck if the actual draft itself doesn't start until 8 or 9 p.m.. Hell, it's bad enough for geeks like me when it doesn't start until 3 or 4!

With the way the first round goes, if the draft didn't actually start until 5, that would put the end of the first round at like, what, 10 or 11? Then the second round would likely get up to almost midnight.

Frankly, the only people who really watch the draft are the ones that truly care about their team. I have to think their viewership would be just as good starting the draft at 2 or 3 as compared to starting it at 5 or 6.

But, that's just me. I want it early because I can't stand waiting.

it should not take that long.

here are the rules from last year.;

time changes to the draft in 2008


Time changes for 2008 NFL Draft

NFL.com

The 2007 draft included the longest first round in history, at six hours and eight minutes. It also had the longest first day, with the first three rounds stretching 11 hours, four minutes.

Time allotted for draft picks
Round ---------------Old limit---------- New limit
First -------- ------15 minutes ---------------10 minutes
Second ----------10 minutes ----------------7 minutes
Third-Seventh --5 minutes ------------------5 minutes

As a result, the times allotted for each team to make their picks has been adjusted.

Those changes include:

» Only Rounds 1 and 2 will take place on Saturday. Previously, the first three rounds of the draft were conducted on Saturday.
» The draft will start at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, three hours later than the previous start time.
» The time allocated for each pick in Round 1 will be 10 minutes. Previously, the first round time was 15 minutes.
» The time allocated for each pick in Round 2 will be seven minutes. Previously, it was 10 minutes.
» Round 3 will be moved to Sunday and remain at five minutes per selection. (Rounds 4-7 will also remain at five minutes per pick.)
» Sunday, the draft starts at 10 a.m. ET, rather than 11 a.m. ET.

This year marks the first time in 13 years that the draft has undergone such a significant change in its format. Here is a break down of significant dates and changes in the history of the draft:

Feb. 8, 1936: First NFL Draft is held in Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia.

1938: Number of Rds is increased to 20.

1943: Number of Rds is increased from 20 to 30.

1947: NFL adds “bonus pick” to be made by randomly selected team (lottery) before 1st round (lasts through 1958).

1960: NFL holds “Secret Draft” to prevent new AFL from signing players (also number of rounds is decreased to 20 from 30).

1967: Implementation of the Common Draft –- joint NFL/AFL draft for the next three years (number of rounds dropped from 20 to 17).

1977: Number of rounds dropped from 17 to 12.

1984: NFL holds all-inclusive Scouting Combine, replacing the three that had existed for 13 seasons.

1993: Number of rounds dropped from 12 to eight.

1993: Compensatory picks first awarded.

1994: Number of rounds dropped from eight to seven.

1995: NFL adopts a Saturday-Sunday format.

2008: NFL moves Round 1 and 2 to Saturday, Round 3 is moved to Sunday; start time is moved three hours later to 3 p.m. ET; time allotted for Round 1 is 10 minutes (down from 15); time allotted for Round 2 is seven minutes (down from 10); start time on Sunday is moved to 10 a.m. ET (was 11 a.m. ET).

I'm just assuming that each team will take its full time in the 1st round. That puts it at 320 minutes, so just over 5 hours. Maybe it would be less, but we've seen it go pretty darn long before.

Quote:

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My sincere guess is that the TV coverage will begin at 4:00pm and the draft itself won't start for two, three or more hours after that.... that lets the Draft hit primetime in all four timezones.

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I don't think so. The pre-draft stuff on nflnetwork starts at 0darkthirty and it says the live pick by pick coverage begins at 4 p.m..

If they started any later than that, they would be making selections at 2 in the morning, and the nflnetwork program guide shows a 1st day recap beginning at midnight which would make sense if it starts at 4.

I do agree that it is VERY odd that you can look all over the internet and find little on the start time..........

What Date and Time is the 2009 NFL Draft?
March 03, 2009 by
Nick Meyer

The NFL Draft is basically like the season's Super Bowl for lesser teams and their fans, organizations like the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals who almost never seem to be able to get over the hump.

The ESPN hype machine is already running at full steam for the 2009 NFL Draft despite the lack of big-name number-one overall pick candidates in this year's draft, simply because fans of NFL teams love to talk football and strategy
with their friends and pretend that they could do a better job picking players than their favorite teams' general managers.

2009 NFL Draft Date and Time

The 2009 NFL Draft will start at 3 p.m. this year, a move the NFL made to push back the timing of the draf to be more towards prime time instead of the familiar old noon start time that was customary. The date of the 2009 NFL Draft is April 25 and also extending to April 26 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

This timing gives fans more time to settle in and to maybe get some chores done early and then they can stick around and watch the draft in its entirety at night instead of feeling like they just wasted a whole afternoon.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1529583/what_date_and_time_is_the_2009_nfl.html

The 73rd NFL Draft will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This year's Draft will start at 3 p.m. on Saturday and will conclude with the final selection of Round 2. The third round will begin on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Last year's radiocity listing.....
http://www.radiocity.com/events/2008nfldraft.html

3:00pm it is, the script has been updated.

The 26th and 26th are Sunday and Monday

The 26th and 27th are Sunday and Monday

DRAFT NUDGES CLOSER TO PRIME TIME
Posted by Mike Florio on March 9, 2009, 9:20 a.m. EDT

Last year, the league tinkered with the centerpiece of the offseason experience — the draft.

Moving it from a 12:00 p.m. EDT start to 3:00 p.m. EDT and reducing the time that teams have to make up their minds in the first round from fifteen minutes to ten (and in round two from ten minutes to seven), the goal was to expand the television audience and generally to make the thing more television-friendly.

This year, the draft will start another hour later, at 4:00 p.m. EDT. (A reader noticed this somewhere, and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed it for us.)

The draft will continue to involve two rounds on Saturday and the other five on Sunday.

We continue to believe that the league should move the first half of round one to Friday night, finish round one and conduct rounds two and three on Saturday, and then wrap it up on Sunday. (And we’ll let you know if/when anyone with any real juice ever gives a damn about what we believe.)
web page

Of course my blog link is the right one.

...and the ticker is updated again.

j/c

I think it would be unfair if they had the first half of the first round Friday night and the second half on Saturday. Say they stop after pick 16. Well, now the team with pick 17 has not 10 minutes for their first round pick, but an entire night! The whole second half of the first round has that "advantage".

I am really getting tired of the league getting more and more money grubbing. Play games in other countries. Expand the regular season. Move the draft around.

What ever happened to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" I understand you don't want to just sit on your laurels, but this is getting ridiculous.

Well, the draft is in 2 weeks. Has anyone seen an Official start time or are we still stuck at 4 pm when the NFL Network starts coverage?

They don't want us to know when it is.... so we should just skip watching it completely and just find out the news the next day in the paper like we used to.

I figure what the hell... they don't want to tell us when it starts, so maybe I don't want to give them the ratings.... tune in something different that day (or ::gasp:: just go outside).