On April 28, 2022, professional football began its annual rookie draft. The event is an example of sports marketing at its best.
Millions of fans watched an event that has no official bearing on a playoff race; no team accumulated a win or loss on draft day. It is a meaningless event but annually intrigues football fans globally. Think about it — it’s May. A meaningful NFL game will not be played for another four months or so, and we will not have an opportunity to read about training camp for another 11 weeks.
Despite these facts, the marketing brainpower at the NFL has manufactured an event that draws national attention and millions of eyeballs, dragging on over the course of multiple days. Every single higher learning institution offering business marketing courses should take notes on what the NFL has done.
How dominant is the NFL's mastery of professional sports in America? The NFL Draft is literally just an old guy reading names. It will earn ratings that dwarf the NBA Playoffs (an actual meaningful ongoing sporting contest) and 99% of next year's college football games.
— Brian Fobi 🇨🇲 🇺🇸 (@brianfobi) April 28, 2022
Let’s take a look at a few reasons why the NFL can truly call themselves sports marketing masters!
Everybody has Draft Opinions
As Brian Fobi so eloquently said, “The NFL Draft is literally just an old guy reading names.” Sounds kinda boring, right? Sure, I am locked into the Draft when my New York Giants are on the clock, but no pass will be thrown nor tackle be made. Just hours of speculation and everyone is in on it.
There are thousands of bloggers who have created draft content — content that references the almighty NFL shield. Millions of social media posts have been created on various platforms with the hashtag #NFLDraft. The NFL has created a vehicle that prints FREE advertisements, keeping the league at the forefront of fans’ minds at a time when nothing else football-related is going on.
2022 NFL Draft is at 8! Here's our mock draft for this year. What do you think? #nfl #draft #2022 #marketing #advertising #agency pic.twitter.com/85DKNvrfDG
— Mad Men Marketing (@MadMenJax) April 28, 2022
Making Sub Brands Relevant
I have a serious question and welcome comments below! If it was not for the NFL Draft, would there be a need for the NFL Network in the months of March, April, and May? What would this network run if it was not for the NFL Draft? The NFL Network creates content and drives advertising dollars around the NFL draft.
The @dallascowboys haven't traded up in 10 years…@SlaterNFL says it could be an option tonight depending what happens early 👀
📺: 2022 #NFLDraft — Tonight 8pm ET on NFLN/ESPN/ABC pic.twitter.com/gP9uJ31Pmw
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) April 28, 2022
In all, if you are a sports entrepreneur dreaming of ruling the world, the recipe for your empire is simple. Create a few events that engage your audience and do it in a way that your partners and customers create content organically around your event. How hard can that be?
Thank you for reading why I think you can expect a dip in NFL ratings. You can check out all of my gaming, sports investing, and general NFL HOT takes on my IDP Guys author page. Feel free to connect with me on Twitter @MarcSaulino and follow @IDPGuys in an effort to stay informed about everything that is NFL relevant.
