After a long period of scuttlebutt that the NFL would move the draft to a streaming service, last year we started to get clarity about the future of the draft. First, the Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand confirmed previous reporting that ESPN would retain rights to the draft and share them with a “digital player”, predicting that “you will see two places have the draft in the future”. Of course, right now the draft airs in at least two places, ESPN and NFL Network, but ESPN and the league have engaged in renewed talks for ESPN to acquire NFL Media which would put both networks under one roof. Still, this might seem to suggest that NFL Network’s separate broadcast of the draft might not be long for this world… until Front Office Sports reported the following day that NFLN was, in fact, expected to retain the rights to the NFL Draft beyond this year, while YouTube was in “pole position” to land international distribution rights to the draft.
It’s not clear whether YouTube would be able to distribute its draft broadcast in the United States, though there are enough places for people to catch the draft as it stands that, on the surface, one more wouldn’t hurt. What is clear is that, in all likelihood, YouTube won’t merely be redistributing the ESPN or NFL Network coverage but producing its own oriented towards an international audience that may not be familiar with American football, or at the least college football. That would make it a fourth official draft broadcast to join the traditional broadcasts on ESPN and NFL Network as well as the more human-interest-focused coverage on ABC.