Draft watchers might get extra day

At the rate the NFL is going, it might wind up stretching its already wildly popular draft to a full week. Are football fans ready for a round a day?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the league has held preliminary discussions about switching the first round to Friday night, with the rest of the draft spread out over the weekend.

There are two obvious reasons to consider that option. One would be the potential prime-time audience on a Friday night. The second would be the chance for NFL teams to what the paper called "decompress" before heading into Round 2.

The report comes on the heels of what turned out to be the second-most watched draft of all time. Nearly 38 million viewers took some time out of their weekend to watch the draft on ESPN, ESPN2 or the NFL Network, the NFL said.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a 3-day draft is how the length of the first round would translate to an evening telecast.

Last Saturday's first round took 6 hours, 8 minutes, easily a record. That means even a 7 p.m. start would take East Coast viewers past midnight, unless the league would reduce the current 15 minutes between picks. But reports indicate there's not much sentiment to do that.

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