In this economy, with no new sports happening, the draft is going to be a ratings spectacle because there is little else to watch. And I think they believe it will be good for the country to have fresh content on TV. There are 32 new millionaires, it’s like a sports lottery. It’s a happy sports story when there’s a short supply of them.

The development in recent years of off-season programming seems fortuitously positioned for this moment, right?

It’s been deliberate and they have been strategic. The draft has been perhaps the most obvious. They started moving it around the country. It would have been in Las Vegas this year. With each place they’ve moved, it’s gotten more sponsors.

In a normal year, the draft speculation starts the minute the Super Bowl is over. It fills hours and hours of TV time when there are no games. How good does that get, if you are in the business of providing content, you don’t have to put on a game and it will still fill hours of talk radio and TV?

That’s it for this briefing. Have a good, and safe, weekend. — Isabella

Thank you

To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. Sanam Yar helped compile this briefing. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

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