If you’re wondering just how the NFL Draft is going to work virtually this weekend and wanted to get a sense behind the scenes, NFL commissioner Roger Goddell gave the clearest inside look yet: a tour of his basement.
The dimly lit video that it looks as though he shot on his phone shows him walking down a flight of stairs into his “mancave” where the magic hopefully will happen without any technical glitches.
“This is the mancave, completely modified,” Goddell said in a video shared to his Twitter. “That’s it, this will be my home for the next three days, can’t wait.”
The basement was outfitted with cameras, monitors and printers that will provide all the cards for drafted players and teams. He pointed out the locations where roughly three to five different crew members will be stationed, including a couple manning the player cards, an ESPN coordinator and others working
Goddell also showed off his favorite chair where he sits to watch football games on three separate TV screens, and his station where he’ll be presenting the picks is outfitted with a Surface tablet and a Bose headset, he said in the video.
Goddell also appeared on “GMA” ahead of the first day of the NFL Draft on Thursday and explained to Robin Roberts just how things are going to work.
“This is a really important event to our clubs and helping finalize their rosters and get ready for the season so this is important for us to do it right and doing it from home and doing it within regulations with no exemptions,” Goddell told “GMA.” “We obviously will be ready to make alternatives and put public safety No. 1 as we always do and make sure that our fans, our players, all the participants, coaches, everyone, are able to be in a safe environment and make sure that we do it in a way that all of us will be proud of.”
Each of the 32 teams will be on a video conference together with decision makers from each team operating their own remote calls in order to simulate the war rooms they use before making a pick. One person from each team is then designated to submit their picks to the commissioner, who will then make the announcement. Players will also be on call from their living rooms over WiFi, with Goddell saying on GMA that there will be over 200 remotes on the call.
For more details about how the event will take place, check out TheWrap’s coverage of the event here.
The NFL Draft begins Thursday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes and will be streaming live on NFL.com and social media platforms. Round 1 begins at 8 p.m. ET.
Happy Draft Day, NFL fans. Good luck to every team. A quick tour of my basement where I’ll be announcing picks for the 2020 #NFLDraft.
See you tonight! pic.twitter.com/ZtepCqPYz5
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) April 23, 2020