CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 28: Details from inside Selection Square Stage at NFL Draft Town , prior to the start of the 2016 NFL Draft on April 28, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images)

As if the NFL Draft isn’t insufferable enough, imagine two or three cities hosting the Draft during the same year, which would (theoretically, at least) mean multiple broadcast crews from multiple networks at each site, trying to switch between cities and make the Draft watchable.

The NFL apparently thinks this is a great idea.

According to a recent report from Sports Business Daily, the NFL is kicking around the idea of hosting the Draft in multiple cities because of the interest markets have in hosting the event.

Because of the surge in interest to host the event, the NFL may spread a single draft among different cities. Already, some rounds are announced at team sites across the country. Rather than do that, those rounds could fold into a draft festival in a second locale.

“You are looking at a multistate draft, and that may happen as early as 2018,” said one football source who has had conversations with NFL officials about the subject.

I see multiple ways that this can go wrong, depending on how the multi-site Draft would be set up.

If the NFL decides to award each of its three days of the Draft to a different site, what happens when you invite a prospect to Day One of the Draft and he slips? Are you really expecting him to fly from say, Philadelphia to Dallas for Day Two?

Furthermore, what fans are going to actively attend Days Two and Three, aside from fans in that market? I can’t see a Vikings fan, for example, flying to Dallas for Day Two, but not going to Philadelphia for Day One. Unless, of course, their team doesn’t have a pick in the first round…which would be great, if so many teams didn’t trade up. And isn’t “drawing fans” one of the reasons the Draft was moved away from New York in the first place?

If the NFL actually has the sick idea of alternating picks between different sites, that would be a disaster. Because of trades, fans wouldn’t know which location to go to (unless you designate “homes” for teams, and maybe just read multiple picks off in a row at one location), and when nothing is going on between picks, fans would be bored and restless. The league also wouldn’t be able to invite players at all, since they would have no idea where they would be going in the first place.

I am well aware it was 30 years ago, but the WWF tried this with WrestleMania 2. It did not go well.

Take a lesson from pro wrestling, NFL: just keep the Draft in one location. If you’re going to continue turning this into a spectacle, don’t go over the top with it.

[Sports Business Daily]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.