The NFL Draft Premieres on ESPN (feat. Mina Kimes & Peter King)

April 29, 1980. An upstart media company has proposed a strange idea to the NFL: broadcast the pro football draft live on TV. Nobody really paid much attention to the NFL Draft before, but with the young ESPN still finding its voice, it was a perfect opportunity. Today, ESPN broadcasts the NFL Draft for the first time. How did a guy reading a list of names become must-see TV? And how does this experimental telecast turn the NFL into a year-round phenomenon? Special thanks to our guests: Upton Bell, former New England Patriots general manager and son of Bert Bell, founder of the NFL Draft; Richard Deitsch, senior writer covering sports media for The Athletic; Craig Ellenport, senior editor at Sports Illustrated; Mina Kimes, ESPN NFL analyst and host of “The Mina Kimes Show Featuring Lenny”; Peter King, NBC Sports NFL columnist; and Charles McDonald, Yahoo Sports NFL columnist and host of “The Exempt List” podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The NFL Draft Premieres on ESPN (feat. Mina Kimes & Peter King) is an episode from Sports History This Week by Ben Dickstein.

This episode is 30:55 long.

This episode was published on Apr 26, 2023.

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