The NFL Draft is built on publicity

The NFL Draft wasn’t born a spectacle. It became one.

What started as a quiet, behind-the-scenes process of American football teams picking players from a meeting room in 1936 has become a high-budget, primetime, highly anticipated event.

It truly took off when a scheduling conflict in 2015 at Radio City Music Hall, where the draft was held for nine years, pushed the National Football League to tap into tactics publicists have used for decades: curiosity, access and emotion.

As Green Bay, Wisconsin becomes the center of the sports universe for three days beginning April 24, years of anticipation will flood on-and-offline conversations. Memories will be made during an exclusive event that feels inclusive thanks to worldwide media exposure.

By now, football fans know dozens of stories about hometown athletes and have heard rumors about players their favorite teams might take during the seven-round event. Add a touch of spectacle, involve celebrities, a historical setting and let fans feel like they’re part of it all and you have the makings for some dynamic public exposure.

That is how reading names off index cards became must-see for sports fans.

I bet you know what’s coming next, sweet SIDEbar reader.

Yup, you can borrow from how the NFL has built something so big that one expert compared security screening to that of meeting the Pope. (Rest in peace, Francis.)

Here’s how 🏈:

• Spotlight stories🏋🏽‍♀️. The NFL’s PR staff has worked tirelessly to highlight stats, facts and stories for anticipated picks during the first hours of the event. ☝🏼Don’t minimize lesser-hyped talent that we learn about on Days 2 and 3, however. (One of my favorite days as a fan is Day 3 and NFL Network’s “Stump the Truck” segment when on-air analysts challenge their behind-the-scenes research crew with names that may not have made their way into graphics packages.)

• Make your event look big, even if it’s small🛣. And if you’re little like Green Bay, Wisconsin, never let “you’re too small” get in the way of your dream. 

• Be inclusive🫵🏼. Invite locals to share what makes your thing special and you’ll broaden your fanbase. Smart sponsors will jump onto that bandwagon and ride it into your next event.

• Fill conversation coffers👨‍👧. Some of us hate sports rumor mills, but how many of you have talked about who’s drafting whom in the last few months? Let conversation culminate with a special day or weekend.

• Take people behind the scenes🎥. Everybody loves sneak peeks.

🎯 Why it matters:
People want to be part of something—an event, a community—not sold to, even if that’s your endgame. Don’t make it an activation. Just extend the invitation. If you do that right, they’ll show up, talk about it, bring others along for the ride and yes, buy.

Pups are primetime players, too 🐶– Puppies have become popular participants in recent NFL drafts. This year, NFL Network talent will share the desk during a Day 3 segment with dogs from the Wisconsin Humane Society. The organization will also match up to $5,000 in donations through Sunday, April 27.

Taking second seat to no one, the Los Angeles Chargers will also celebrate the NFL Draft’s Day 3 with a dog adoption from DOG PPL, a membership-based canine social club in Santa Monica. More than 25 adoptable dogs from Pasadena Humane, LA Animal Services and LA County Animal Care & Control, all which were affected by January’s wildfires, will make their claims for why they deserve furever homes (of course, they all do).

Share what you love most about events like the NFL Draft. I look forward to sharing more with you next week.

© 2025 Gail Sideman, gpublicity.com

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