The moves re-emphasized that the league’s biggest priority remains making money — from relocation fees the moving teams pay the league, plus the league’s cut of naming rights, sponsorships
and other revenue boosts — no matter the complaints from deserted fans.
This year, the league outdid itself by holding the event outdoors for the first time, in a park in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where more than 70,000 people drank beer, rubbed elbows with fans of rival teams
and hooted and hollered as the names of the first 32 players chosen were announced.
Ratings may rebound, but the league’s owners — who make the majority of their revenue from television deals — now must confront the possibility
that the networks will resist paying ever larger sums for the right to air games.
draft was last held here, in 1961, teams chose players in a smoke-filled hotel ballroom, a modest
group of sportswriters dutifully covered the proceedings, and only a few fans bothered to attend.
Before then came a wave of relocations that pushed the league into new markets — but also alienated fans in three cities
that lost, or are losing, teams: San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland, Calif.