Why the business of the NFL Draft is booming: MoneyCall

New York Times

23-04-2025

Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic's weekly sports business cheat sheet. Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here (it's free!)
Name-dropped today: Dane Brugler, Roger Goodell, Andre Agassi, Anna Leigh Waters, Cooper Flagg, Lee Corso, Max Verstappen, Shedeur Sanders, Nico Harrison, James Gladstone and more. Let's go:
The NFL Draft obviously doesn't have the audience reach of the Super Bowl, but there is a strong case for the draft as the most comprehensive sports event of the year:
'Draft-chella': The NFL has turned the draft into sports' most accessible party. Last year's draft in Detroit drew a record 775,000-plus fans. As the NFL's smallest city, Green Bay won't top that, but the scene will feel like a pro football revival.
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Year-round, full-time draft coverage, including a slew of specialists. (And there's still time to consume at least some of Dane Brugler's 300,000-word draft preview, The Beast.)
Multiple high-profile draft-adjacent events in the months leading up, including the league's own scouting combine, various college all-star showcases and on-campus pro days that draw overwhelming fan interest.
Well-known quirks: It is impossible not to have your ears perk up in Pavlovian response to the nine-tone sing-song chime signaling 'The pick is in.'
And, of course, there are the 'fits and the hats and emotional bro-hugs with commissioner Roger Goodell (even if an increasing number of top players are choosing to spend their draft days at home with their families, which — among other benefits — allows them to showcase endorsement deals that would be verboten if they attended the draft in person).
For all the draft's compelling elements, I'll agree with what ESPN executive producer Seth Markman told my colleague Richard Deitsch: The real X-factor of the NFL Draft is that for one unique, once-a-year window, it harnesses and amplifies the most powerful feeling possible for every fan of every franchise, all at once:
Hope.
Big talkers from the sports business industry:
Andre Agassi's pickleball era: The legend's participation in pickleball's U.S. Open next week (with pickleball GOAT Anna Leigh Waters) might be the crossover moment the sport has needed to capture the attention of mainstream spectator sports fans.
ESPN's Lee Corso retiring: As my colleague Andrew Marchand noted in this great appreciation, there are just a handful of on-air personalities who come to be intertwined with a network's sports coverage, and Corso was that for ESPN and college football.
As Corso's career has wound down, the future of 'College GameDay' has been illuminated: celebrity game predictions (shout-out to ball-knower Timothée Chalamet), full-time nicknamed gambling analysts (first 'The Bear,' now 'Stanford Steve'), the growling gravitas of Nick Saban and — more than anything — the antics of Pat McAfee, who replaces Corso as the show's id.
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The business of Cooper Flagg: Unsurprisingly, he is entering the 2025 NBA Draft. An underrated sub-plot of the Flagg story has been his endorsement deal with New Balance, which he signed ahead of his one season at (Nike-sponsored) Duke. You might have caught him on TV ads during the NCAA Tournament, repping NB but also AT&T ('Bingooooo!').
Expect a surge of marketing activity ahead of his presumed selection as the No. 1 pick in 10 weeks, along with what will surely be more high-profile endorsement deals.
2025 Anonymous NBA Player Poll: All the results are interesting (less than 30 percent of players think analytics are net 'good' for the league), but I was most intrigued by the anonymous reactions to gambling's impact: Nearly half the players polled labeled betting partnerships 'bad' for the NBA, and their responses included some scary anecdotes, including death threats.
The rise of the college football GM: As the spring college football transfer portal closes later this week, catch up on the defining trend of the sport in 2025: the rise of GMs to manage rosters, NIL and (if you're Andrew Luck at Stanford or Ron Rivera at rival Cal) input in coach firing.
Other current obsessions: NWSL games in MLB stadiums … Bobby Witt Jr.'s daily routine … Max Verstappen's future … Syracuse football coach Fran Brown's candor … Nico Iamaleava's pay cut …
If there is a single NFL Draft storyline poised to dominate Thursday night's coverage, it is: Where will QB Shedeur Sanders, son of Deion, be drafted?
(I'll set the over/under on camera cutaways to the younger Sanders at 30 if he goes top-three … and 100 if he slips into the 20s. Markman told Deitsch that Sanders' draft night 'could be very parallel to what happened to Aaron Rodgers, what happened to Brady Quinn, what happened to Johnny Manziel.')
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Ahead of that, I asked Scoop City's Jacob Robinson to project three scenarios for Sanders:
Highest possible?
There are a few slots here, starting with the Browns and Giants at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, though I doubt they forgo either Travis Hunter or Penn State edge Abdul Carter for Sanders.
Lowest possible?
If Sanders makes it to the Steelers at 21, the world expects him to be their pick. If even the Steelers pass, I see the Giants, Browns or even Saints moving their early second-round picks and future selections to draft Sanders late in Round 1. With so many teams desperate for a passer, Sanders shouldn't fall out of the first round.
Weirdest possible?
The Rams hold the 26th pick, they have no succession plan for Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay's offense seems a great fit for Sanders' skill set. Then the media circus accompanying Sanders transforms as he becomes a backup in Los Angeles.
Worth checking out: 'The Athletic Football Show' will be live on YouTube — featuring co-hosts Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen, NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler and college football expert Bruce Feldman, among others — on Thursday and Friday nights.
Time for a lightning round
This guy can't quite stop stepping on rakes.
You have to check out what NBA players had to say about Harrison's Luka trade in our annual Anonymous Player Poll. Sample: 'I don't know if 2K would've allowed that trade.'
I would argue that the most iconic moment of any NFL Draft comes when each player puts on their new team's hat.
My colleague David Betancourt has a great story coming out tomorrow morning all about the draft hat, and I asked him why there is such a fascination:
'The transition from college to pro athlete is never truly official until a prospect has been handed the hat that gives them their official team name and colors, unlocking instant adulation from a built-in fandom.'
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Don't let the youthful mien fool you — the Jaguars' new 34-year-old GM is wise beyond his years. Phenomenal profile from my colleague Jourdan Rodrigue about the new leader calling the shots in Jacksonville.
That was the audience for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Rockingham, N.C., airing on The CW. Per SBJ's Adam Stern, all 10 of the races to open the series have topped a million, strong numbers that are flying speeding under the radar this year.
The Athletic's newsletter universe expands with Red Light, our brand-new hockey email, powered by my colleagues Sean McIndoe, James Mirtle and our world-class roster of hockey journalists.
(It also means MoneyCall is no longer the rookie on the newsletter team — huge thanks for being part of the launch and growth this year!)
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Edition No. 212
Dan's time: :22
Try the game here! And check back tomorrow for an NFL Draft-themed board.
Loved this profile of Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky, who went from nanotechnologist to front-office analytics guru to head of a Carolina braintrust that is approaching things as innovatively as anyone in sports.
Two more reads worth your time:
(1) This excellent profile of the partnership between legendary investor Mellody Hobson and former Commanders president Jason Wright, on their approach to investing in women's sports.
(2) Glossary of financial terms you'll run into in football (soccer). Indispensable info!
Back next Wednesday! This week's challenge: Forward this to four co-workers or friends, and hold a 'reply all' draft of MoneyCall's five main sections. And check out The Athletic's other newsletters, too.