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NFL draft will be a TV moment in the spotlight for Detroit
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- NFL draft will be a TV moment in the spotlight for Detroit
Is Detroit ready for its closeup at the NFL draft?
The three-day event happening Thursday through Saturday in the Motor City will put Detroit in the spotlight on broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming platforms.
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According to the National Football League, more than 54 million people tuned in at some point during 2023's NFL draft in Kansas.
This year, the D is bound to play a huge role in the television coverage, according to one of the networks involved.
The main stage as work goes on at the NFL Draft Theater near Campus Martius in Detroit on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
"The city is a central character to the whole week for us," said Alex Maloney, a coordinating producer with the NFL Network who oversees coverage of the NFL draft.
Maloney said he started visiting Detroit in May 2023 as part of the planning process. He has spent nearly a year immersed in building relationships here, making discoveries of things to showcase and putting together pieces of the overall coverage plan.
The NFL Network's rendition of its main set for the NFL Draft in Detroit. It will be home to the coverage team of Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis and Joel Klatt on Thursday and Friday and Eisen, Jeremiah, Davis and Peter Schrager on Saturday.
Along with the NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and the Spanish-language pay channel ESPN Deportes will offer live coverage of the draft's rounds on Thursday and Friday night and Saturday afternoon. There also will be streaming coverage on web platforms like ESPN+, YouTube TV, Hulu+ Live TV and more.
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There will be multiple sets filled with numerous well-known TV sports commentators and behind-the-scenes crews at work in the downtown Detroit area stretching from from Campus Martius to Hart Plaza. You might even get a sighting of former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who'll co-host the "The Pat McAfee Show Draft Spectacular" Thursday night, streaming on ESPN+.
All those cameras – not to mention the possibility of several hundreds of thousands of visitors – are going to give Detroit a showcase like no other.
"The NFL draft is going to do more for our city in terms of economic activity and its national image than any single event in Detroit's history," said Mayor Mike Duggan in a news statement about the draft's potential impact.
More: Sam Richardson showcases Detroit hot spots and swagger in ad campaign timed to NFL draft
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Exposure like this is, to borrow a famous commercial catchphrase, priceless. As Detroit Sports Commission Executive Director Dave Beachnau told the Free Press , "As we continue to shape the image and perception of Detroit; to have 50 or 60 million eyeballs on our city for three days, I mean, we can't afford that kind of advertising that the broadcast brings."
So how will Detroit be portrayed amidst the festivities? Most likely as a great place to visit, which locals have long realized — and as a newly emerged football powerhouse, an image Lions fans are still savoring.
Maloney said the city "has been a sleeping giant of a football town for a long time." Now, thanks to last season's exhilarating playoff run by the Lions, Detroit is a contender, period.
Conversations with Detroiters have been key to informing the NFL Network's coverage, said Maloney. He cited one comment, in particular, that has been critical to his understanding of the city.
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"They dropped this great line on me that I can't get out of my head, that I'm really trying to take and incorporate it. The line was cars wouldn't be cars, music wouldn't be music, culture wouldn't be culture without Detroit. I absolutely love that," he said.
The front row inside the NFL draft theater near Campus Martius Parks in Detroit on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
Although Maloney wants to keep some Detroit-centric references up his sleeve – "You gotta wait," he insists, teasing some opening night surprises — the NFL Network has revealed that Motown legend Smokey Robinson will be the voice for the opening of its coverage. Accompanying Robinson will be a remastered version of the classic 1966 Temptations hit "Get Ready."
The NFL Network's main set is designed "to take in the big theater and all the lights and screens, as well as the sea of Honolulu blue, all the Lions fans that are going to pack it, " said Maloney.
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More: A closer look at the NFL draft theater built in downtown Detroit
And don't worry. With Thursday declared "Honolulu Blue Day" in Detroit by Mayor Duggan, there should be plenty of visual messaging about local pride for the team.
According to Maloney, the NFL draft's appeal comes from several factors, including the way that it unites collegiate and pro football fans and involves all 32 NFL teams. But there's a more intangible reason, a little thing called hope.
"Every fan base goes into the draft thinking this is where we get our hall of fame player, this is where we get the player that our team really, really, really needs," he said.
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And, just maybe, this year will bring the star turn that Detroit deserves, too.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit prepares to be one of the stars of the NFL draft's TV coverage
