Team owners from around the league are gathering in Nashville today for a meeting that will be important regarding the future of the NFL Draft and the 2011 Super Bowl. Nothing official or drastic will happen on the topic of the draft, but discussions will begin to talk about shortening the first and second rounds. After the longest first round in draft history, everyone is coming to a general agreement that things need to be shortened. Basically, this is the first step in making a change. Following today's meeting, we will probably hear something soon as to when more advancements will be made in getting the first two rounds shortened.
I've already made my mind up on this topic. The draft needs to be shortened. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about it, but no round should last for 6+ hours. The best plan that I've heard so far is cutting 5 minutes off of every pick in the first round, meaning that each team would have 10 minutes to make a pick. For the second round, 7 minutes is just about right.
The draft isn't the main subject on the meeting's agenda. A vote will be taken to name a host city for the 2011 Super Bowl. The final three candidates are as follows: Glendale, AZ (host of this coming season's Super Bowl); Indianapolis, IN; and Arlington, TX. Out of those three locations, the real race is between Indy and Arlington. Since Glendale is hosting the 2008 Super Bowl, I don't expect the bid to go to Arizona.
Between the Colts and the Cowboys, it will be a tough decision. Both teams will be playing in new stadiums, so that sort of cancels each other out. Indianapolis is always known for hosting big events. One is this Sunday in the form of the annual Indy 500, and the NCAA Final Four always ends up in Indy once every five or so seasons. The Cowboys will be looking to secure the bid so the Super Bowl comes to their new $1 billion stadium. Since it would be a southern climate, Dallas may have the advantage there, but I doubt it would be enough to swing the vote that much.
My take on it is that I'm pulling for Indy to get the bid since it is much closer to Michigan than Dallas is. If the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl presented itself, I could get to Indy much easier than all the way south to Texas. Either way, I'd rather see one of these two candidates receive the bid over Glendale since they are playing host for the next Super Bowl. Stay tuned for an update of which city is chosen on Wednesday.