Loyalty is a vanishing commodity. The NFL showed none to ESPN by inviting rival Fox Sports to air the annual draft next week from Arlington, Texas. ESPN hopes football fans are more faithful and will continue to tune in to the Worldwide Leader in Sports, which is preparing to telecast its 39th consecutive draft.
The good news for ESPN? With five or six star quarterbacks expected to go in Thursday's first round, and the big market Giants and Jets picking No. 2 and 3, respectively, expectations are off the charts for the three-day event.
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Following last year's masterstroke of holding an "outdoor" draft in Philadelphia, the league moved this year's proceedings to the Cowboys cavernous AT&T Stadium. Jerry Jones' football palace is a fitting stage for the drama, according to Seth Markman, ESPN's senior coordinating producer for NFL & MLB studio Production.
“It’s almost a perfect storm for us: Big teams, big quarterbacks," Markman told Sporting News in an exclusive interview. "It's kind of fitting that it’s in Jerry’s stadium there, with how big this thing can be."
The Emmy Award-winning Markman knows of what he speaks. He's the czar of ESPN's NFL Draft coverage, as well as such football studio shows as "Sunday NFL Countdown," "Monday Night Countdown" and "NFL Live."
As a TV property, the NFL Draft has come a long way. ESPN had coverage to itself from 1980 to 2005. Led by Chris Berman and Mel Kiper, ESPN did a phenomenal job, establishing it as a marquee TV event.
The league added its own NFL Network cable channel to the presentation in 2006. This year's draft will be aired by two broadcast networks (Fox, ABC) and four cable networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL Network). For the first time ever, all seven rounds will air on broadcast TV.
To keep things fresh, ESPN is making some significant changes. Following "Monday Night Football" analyst Jon Gruden's move to the Raiders, Kirk Herbstreit of "College GameDay" will join Kiper, Trey Wingo and front office insider Louis Riddick on ESPN's main desk (Thursday, 8 p.m. ET).
For the first time, ESPN will present an NFL Draft-themed "College GameDay" right before its main coverage, starring Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack. With Berman in semi-retirement, successor Trey Wingo will serve as ESPN lead anchor for the second straight year.
Sporting News sports media columnist Michael McCarthy asked Markman about which ESPN personalities will get more airtime, ex-coach Rex Ryan's rocky first year as an analyst and whether there will be any cast changes on Samantha Ponder's "Sunday NFL Countdown." Excerpts:
Sporting News: Can this be the highest-rated NFL Draft ever?
Seth Markman: When you combine all the networks, it will be. Obviously with Fox being in it now. For us, it won’t be, probably, based on that, I would guess. I would love to say we’re going to have a huge rating. I think we will. But I just don't know. It's hard to predict how the viewership is going to be with the Fox simulcast now for the first time. It’s an interesting dynamic. We obviously hope that our loyal viewers of 39 years will stick with us for the telecast. And I think the majority will. But I think you know, better than me, by putting another network into the mix, it’s got to split some viewers I guess.
SN: Speaking of loyalty, I tweeted I thought the NFL messed ESPN over by letting Fox get the Draft. And that ESPN has never gotten the credit it deserved for realizing the potential of a property that even Commissioner Pete Rozelle himself didn't see as TV-worthy. Comment?
SM: (Laughs) I will let you say that one. Trying not to get in trouble.
SN: Bottom line, how does ESPN feel about Fox crashing your NFL Draft party? How will it affect ESPN?
SM : Listen, I’m not going to lie. It’s not ideal for us, right? Adding another network into the mix… We once did this thing by ourselves. We thought we did it really well. We've always thought we’ve done it great. Again, it would be disingenuous for me to say, ‘That’s great news!’ But I think we’re so focused on just doing our job. Doing what we’ve done for almost forty years. Our focus always has, and always will be, on what we’re doing, and serving our fans. Continuing to raise our own game. Ultimately, I think our loyal fans will find us — and come to us for the Draft coverage they’ve expected all these years.
SN: Let's talk on-air talent changes. This will be Wingo's second year as lead anchor. With Gruden leaving for the Raiders, you're putting Herbstreit on the main desk. What are your expectations for this cast?
SM: Chris Berman, to be honest with you, is more responsible I think than anybody else for the success of the early years of the Draft. Nobody has done it as well as him hosting the thing... I just feel really good about this group, as good as I felt in a long time... I can see each of their roles in this Draft and where they are going to be so strong in their expertise. To me, Trey is a really good host now. Last year you saw, and I knew he would be, how good he is at being the quarterback of the team and moving the ball around. For me, still, there’s no draft guru/expert/showman guy better than Mel [Kiper]. He’s a legend. He’s the GOAT of this thing. There’s no one better. Louis Riddick has just become a star for us. He gives you the front office perspective. Not shy about his opinions. Will tell you how these guys fit in with the teams — and who they maybe should have picked instead. And then we added Kirk Herbstreit.
To me it was a natural evolution of the Draft. The college game is so popular now. We’re trying to bring the college and pro worlds a little closer together at ESPN. Here’s the guy who, for me, is the face of college football on TV. He knows these guys better than anyone. Knows the systems they came from. Knows all the coaches they played for. I think he’s going to add something that we’ve never had before. I think he also is smart enough to know to stay when he's going to stay in his lane a little bit. As we told him, you don’t have to worry about projecting this guy into a lineup and how he fits in with this certain team. We have other guys who are going do that. You tell us about the kid. You tell us about what he’s like. You tell us what he was as a player — especially the quarterbacks. When we can see five or six quarterbacks going in the first round, there’s no better year for him to be here. I expect this is going to be the kind of set we want to keep together for a long time.
SN: So Fox announces it's getting the Draft for the first time. ESPN comes back by announcing its adding "College GameDay" to its Draft coverage for the first time. Was this something you had up your sleeve?
SM: We had planned this way before the Fox announcement, to be honest with you. This was something we had discussed for a couple of years. Honestly Michael, we looked at last year. We did a little self-scouting. We were like, You know what, the Draft is one of the most important events on ESPN all year long. It really has become one of our marquee events. So we looked at that day and we were like, How are we surrounding the actual Draft from a programming standpoint? Are we doing the right things
Honestly, when we looked at it last year, it didn’t feel like that. It felt like we were just kind of doing our normal schedule of shows, without making it feel as big as an event as it was. So we said, You know what, for one day a year, there’s still going to be places on ESPN’s family of networks to get your NBA playoffs news, there’s still going to be place to get your baseball highlights, there’s still going to be places for NHL. But on ESPN, basically for the majority of the day we want to do NFL Draft. We want to get people ready for the Draft.
So part of that, as we sat down and talked about what kind of shows do we want to do to separate ourselves a little bit, we said 'College GameDay.' Like why not bring our premier college football show? It’s popular as can be. They’re great being outside in the environment with the crowds — and we’re going to have that in Dallas. When you’re looking at a whole day of shows, why not?.. You look at different layers that you want for your coverage. One of them was, 'Let’s get the college experts on for a while and have some fun.' That was a natural evolution. I’ll be 100% honest with you, we had planned this, and the NFL knew about this, well before we knew anything about Fox being involved.
SN: Anything new with reporters you'll be using?
SM: Again, I think we sort of invented how to do this thing. We’re learning again as always when it comes to the cameras, the reporters, the live shots of players. We’ll be in some Draft rooms. I think you’ll see a little more of Todd McShay on opening night than we have in the past. We will bring him in some to add his expertise. He deserves that. Over the years, he’s become better and better. He’s dialed in. With him and Kiper, we’re blessed to have that kind of talent and depth as far as Draft analysts. Again, I think the biggest change is adding some of the College GameDay and adding Kirk to our main set. That’s kind of the big changes for us.
SN: You mentioned Berman. He was synonymous with ESPN's NFL coverage. Have you talked about bringing Boomer back for the Draft?
SM: We really haven’t. Listen, if that’s something he wanted to do, to be part of it, we could certainly discuss it. But I think he had felt pretty good about his run after all those years on the Draft. We mutually decided to cut back on what he was doing. I think he would honestly tell you the same thing. That wasn’t at the top of his list… He was great about passing the torch to Trey. Trey was always great and respectful toward Boomer. Knowing Chris as well as I know him, he would want to stay out of Trey’s way. He thinks that Trey has earned this opportunity now... Boomer has always been great about that.
Honestly, he’s there to help. I can’t tell you how many times last year he said, ‘Tell Sam [Ponder] if she wants to talk, I’m here for her.’…There’s no better teammate than he has been throughout all of this. Whether it’s Trey or Sam. He’s the type of guy who says, ‘Look, I don’t want to overstep. These people deserve this opportunity and I’m here to help when they need it. I’m here.’ And that’s how he’s been. Again, back to my original answer, I think he recognizes its Trey’s turn, I had a great run. Trey if you need anything, you know where I am.”
SN: Is Rex Ryan committed to TV? It felt like he held back on 'Countdown' last season, as if he wants another coaching job.
SM: Honestly, Michael, I didn’t find that at all. In fact, I’d argue that if you went back and looked at the tape, Rex was as honest and as opinionated as any coach I’ve ever worked with here. I’ve worked with plenty of coaches that have held back over the years. I’ve worked with plenty of coaches who said in a meeting, ‘I think this guy’s garbage and this, that and the other thing.’ Then when the camera goes on, doesn’t say it.
I say, What happened? They’re like, ‘Well, I may coach that guy some day or I may work for that team, you know.’
Rex doesn’t have that. I think if anything people had expectations that may have been unfair for Rex right away. Like, ‘Oh my god, he’s going to be 'Hard Knocks' Rex right off the bat and it’s going to be hilarious.’ But Rex was learning TV on the fly as well. I go back to some of his comments. I still remember some of the things he said about [Giants quarterback] Geno Smith or about [Giants coach] Ben McAdoo. I never hear coaches in this business as honest as he was about Ben McAdoo during the season. Again, I think if anything, it may have been untrue expectations right away.
Sometimes when I read people saying they don’t think Rex was as outspoken as they thought he was, I’m like, I don’t know if they watched as closely. Again, I see everything he does. So I think he’s committed. I think he’s only going to get better. He got more comfortable as the year went along. Halfway through the season he said to me, I remember, ‘Seth, now I understand what you guys want from me. I get it.’ So we rush to judgment so many times in this business.
SN: Are you planning any changes to the cast of "Sunday NFL Countdown?"
SM: No, no anticipated changes. Obviously from a network perspective we’re going through the process on 'Monday Night Football' right now. Once we decided that position. Depending on who gets that position, does it have any effect internally, right? That would be the only way there would be any cast changes. Beyond that, barring that, no.
I was totally pleased with the growth of the show last year. Anytime you put a new cast together it’s going to take a little time to build the chemistry. With Chris Berman leaving, we knew there were would be some old-school loyal viewers who will say, ‘Hey, I miss Boomer and TJ together after all these years.’ Tommy retired a couple of years ago. Boomer leaves the show last year. So you kind of expect some of that. Our job now is to take this team and build them together and build, again, another round of loyalty from the viewers to this group. I’m a big believer that shows that are successful for the most part are the shows where you can keep the cast together, get the viewers to be loyal to that cast and grow as you grow. We’re always going to work harder and try to improve the show, try to improve the talent, the way we produce, everything. But I think one of the recipes for failure is to constantly change up the cast from year to year.
SN: We’re hearing names for Gruden’s open 'Monday Night Football' chair. Here are three: Joe Thomas, Carson Palmer and, a drumroll please, Tim Tebow?
SM: (Laughs) I would tell you that two of your three are way off. There you go.