NFL looking to reduce time between draft picks

AP

NFL owners
next week will discuss shortening the time for each pick in the first two
rounds of the draft.

The owners
will meet May 22 in

Nashville
to award the 2011 Super Bowl, and also will talk about decreasing the 15
minutes allowed for each first-round draft choice. In the second round, teams
are allowed 10 minutes — and that also could be diminished.

But league
spokesman Greg Aiello said no decision is expected in

Nashville.

The NFL’s
competition committee has been studying the issue since last month’s draft, in
which the first round took a record 6 hours, 8 minutes. The entire first day,
consisting of three rounds, lasted more than 11 hours, also a record.

After the
draft, the first one conducted by Goodell as commissioner, he spoke to members
of the competition committee about shortening the proceedings.

There also
has been speculation the draft could be moved from

New York City on a rotation basis, and that
the first round could wind up on a Friday night as prime-time programming for
NFL Network and ESPN, both of which televise the entire draft.