Reviewing the New Draft Date

Today is April 12^th. If it were 2013, then the NFL Draft would be in less than two weeks. Last year, the draft was held from April 25^th until April 27^th. This year, however, the draft won't occur until April May 8^th, ending on April May 10^th. Last year, when it was announced that the draft date would be changed, there was a bit of hoopla. It was assumed, as it always is with the NFL for good reason, that the change of the draft date was motivated by a desire to make money.

I honestly wouldn't doubt that claim. I really won't. I bet somehow and in some new way the NFL is finding additional revenue because of the change. Maybe having the draft too close to Easter was hurting TV ratings. I don't know; frankly, I know very little about how TV ratings work and how organizations cash in on them. I imagine it has something to do with ad-revenue.

But, just knowing the modern NFL, I am sure they are making money on this change somehow. So, if we just take that as an assumed fact - if we just acknowledge that, for better or worse, the NFL won't do anything without making a whole bunch of money - then what are the other, more obvious, consequences?

Well, my utter boredom, first off. As much as I love scouting reports and mock drafts (and trust me, I really do - and we do such a good job here at NN at compiling them all /website plug), eventually I just lose steam. At some point they just aren't the real thing, man.

But, beyond my boredom? I don't really think the change in date has had many discernible consequences. If it has, then they are negligible. But, I imagine that there is at least one potential consequence that the fans can't see: the additional scouting time that teams have might make a difference.

But, on the other hand, it might not. Since every team has the same extended time frame, it seems like the teams with the best scouting departments will continue to do better than the teams with a less sufficient department.

What does everybody else think about the new change? Does it just increase your boredom? Do you see it having larger consequences than I do? Does anybody see obvious ways in which the NFL makes more money?