ESPN, NFL Network seek edge in draft coverage

Thursday's NFL draft, like Friday's royal wedding, is the rare live event where viewers can choose between coverage on different channels.

Getting the basics — players striding to the draft podium, bride and groom meeting at the alter — is a given for any network. So how do you decide Thursday between ESPN and the NFL Network for prime-time first-round coverage?

•War rooms vs. living rooms: The league's own channel has given itself exclusive access to cameras in team draft rooms. Unfortunately, cameras trained on powwows for those 10 teams — including the Carolina Panthers, who have the top pick, as well as the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets and Green Bay Packers— won't come with audio. Meaning, you'll be left to lip-read those antacid-eating or high-fiving team execs.

ESPN will have cameras trained on 25 likely draftees — standing by in somebody's packed living room or restaurant — for shots as they get the news. Here, ESPN should have an edge: Live shots of exultant grandmas can be a difference-maker in draft TV.

•Flooding the zone vs. key isolations: ESPN has cut back its on-air presence at the draft to focus on three talking heads: Jon Gruden (who might end up like John Madden — a young Super Bowl-winning coach who went into TV and stayed on-air for decades rather than returning to the sidelines) and TV draft pioneers Chris Berman and Mel Kiper.

NFLN will have a bigger on-site announcer lineup, led by a five-man main set hosted by ESPN alumnus Rich Eisen. Here, NFLN might have the edge with Deion Sanders, who will interview players, and analyst Michael Irvin. Even in a TV genre that's heavily formatted, those two can blindside you with their audibles.

•The key matchup: Your makeup crew can be meticulous and your highlight packages taut, but TV draft coverage ultimately comes down to your lead draftniks.

Kiper literally created that role decades ago. But NLFN's Mike Mayock, who also calls NBC Notre Dame games and likely will be added to NLFN's prime-time NFL games, has become a worthy adversary. Kiper has an edge with at least one key intangible — his coif — and from team strength: ESPN's first-round draft coverage last year averaged 7.3 million viewers compared to about 1 million for NFLN, which reaches about 40 million fewer households.

Ultimately, the NFL wins with the two-channel marathon infomercial.