Goodell announced at one point that Las Vegas, the league’s newest market, would get another shot in “2020,” a confusing revelation, considering the calendar. Goodell meant that Vegas would host the draft in 2022, after Cleveland’s turn next year. But for a production with so much potential for glitches — requiring extraordinary coordination of uplinks to players, families, executives, coaches and analysts — there were relatively few missteps.

Naturally, ESPN improvised quite a bit, using its campus in Bristol, Conn., as a backdrop for oversize logo graphics and colorful lights. The elevated breezeway connecting the network’s radio and TV wings never looked so enchanting.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the presidential adviser on infectious diseases, gave a short, taped speech before the drafting began, assuring fans that this stripped-down event was a medical necessity. Goodell said at the end that millions had been raised during the show for Covid-19 relief. In that way and others, this version of the draft was a lot more interesting than the traditional pomp.