NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks ahead of the first round...

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks ahead of the first round at the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn.  Credit: AP/Steve Helber

Seth Markman called it “the most complicated event I personally have been involved with.”

Mark Quenzel said he had experienced “nothing that even comes close to this” in his career.

Those are mouthfuls given the vast sports TV experience that Markman, ESPN’s vice president of production, and Quenzel, NFL Network’s senior vice president of programming and production, have between them.

But such is the nature of next week’s NFL Draft, which will present an unprecedented logistical challenge not only for the league itself but for the two networks teaming to cover the event live under COVID-19 restrictions.

ESPN and NFLN, which normally do competing telecasts, will use their hosts, analysts and reporters to combine for one coverage effort while ABC again provides a separate show, focused on human interest stories, for casual fans.

The ESPN/NFLN version will be anchored by Trey Wingo at ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut, studios, where he will be joined by Suzy Kolber, who will conduct interviews. (Rece Davis will host the ABC show from Bristol.)

But the vast majority of correspondents and analysts from both networks, as well as the draft picks themselves and team coaches and general managers, will appear remotely via cameras in their homes.

That includes commissioner Roger Goodell, who will announce picks from his home in Westchester County.

What will Goodell’s set look like? When asked what he could share on that subject, Quenzel laughed and said: “Not much. Not because I’m trying to keep it from you. We’re still working through it.”

But the rest of the plan is rounding into shape. There will be 58 draft prospects set up for remote appearances, and every GM and coach will have a camera in his home.

The goal was to make setting up those remotes self-service, but Quenzel acknowledged that team personnel might need more help from technicians than the collegians they will be drafting.

Some have been asked to upgrade their WiFi bandwidth to prepare for the event.

Quenzel said there are protocols for when GMs and coaches can be shown to avoid divulging competitive secrets.

There will be no formal separation of ESPN and NFL Network personalities. So, yes, expect Mel Kiper and Daniel Jeremiah to be on a split-screen at some point.

In total, producers expect 170 to 180 feeds coming into Bristol from around the country. To manage the chaos, the feeds will be run through video call centers and sent to ESPN in batches.

Meanwhile, strict rules will be in place for the people staffing the studio and control room in person. Markman said an event of this magnitude usually would mean 15 to 20 people in the control room at any given time. This time, there will be only seven, placed no less than six feet apart in two rooms, with face coverings required for all workers who do not appear on the air.

ESPN has been using its Bristol studios for “SportsCenter” in recent weeks. “The cleaning is like nothing I’ve ever seen or ever will see again,” Markman said of precautions being taken there.

The varied goals include covering the picks in a timely and accurate fashion, keeping everyone in Bristol safe, juggling numerous technological balls in the air, and raising money and awareness for COVID-19.

That’s a lot. But given the dearth of live sports since mid-March, this draft is likely to attract bigger audiences than the already sizable ones the event traditionally draws.

“This is our 40th anniversary of ESPN presenting the NFL Draft; it’s safe to say we’ve never had a year like this, very challenging circumstances in the midst of COVID-19,” Markman said.

“Yet we have a great opportunity here to bring fans across the country a little bit of hope, a little bit of joy, maybe a bit of an escape from what we’re all experiencing day to day.”

Said Quenzel, “Clearly, it is about drafting players, but even more clearly it is about setting the tone that there is something much larger than us going on in the world.”

ESPN will get a dry run of next week’s virtual draft when it shows the WNBA’s on Friday, and it knows other leagues will be watching to see how it all works for when their turns come.

Markman lamented not getting to execute plans the network had for the event when it was to be held before an audience in Las Vegas. But this presents a new challenge.

“I just don’t know what I can compare it to,” Markman said. “It’s certainly unique. We’re excited about it. We do enjoy challenges. This isn’t one we ever wanted to have and hopefully will never have again.

“I feel very confident, but I will say it is damn complicated.”

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