NFL needs to fully embrace Las Vegas for the 2020 Draft

To quote the late great ESPN anchor and personality Stuart Scott, the Super Bowl is on...in two weeks.

Soon, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will remind the country that yes, football is played on more than just the east coast. Can the Chiefs win the organizations first Super Bowl since 1969, or will the 49ers see a return to the time of Joe Montana/Steve Young and capture the organization's sixth overall Lombardi trophy?

Who knows, and who cares, we have the April NFL draft to talk about, and those 30 other loser organizations not playing for the shiny silver ball.

It was announced this week the 2020 draft will be held in Las Vegas, surely to help bring attention to the league's newest team market with the Raiders set to begin playing there next season.

LINK: NFL to hold 2020 draft in Las Vegas

LINK: Raiders new stadium could be done by June

And let's just forget the fact the draft is nothing more than a way for the league to fill TV time for three days it is a mundane venture (unless you are the type of person who really gets into contract law and calling out names like you are at the local Bingo hall).

The big news isn't really who the No. 1 pick will be (it will be Joe Burrow of LSU, read about his award here), but the fact it is at the famous Bellagio hotel (the one with the big fountain).

And it sounds like the NFL is going all out for this one. Building a stage on the water and having players taken to the dock once selected via ferry is about as over the top as you can get.

Or is it?
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If the NFL is going to Vegas (baby), they need to fully embrace it, and go completely over the top.

Have Cirque du Soleil perform to replace cheerleaders. Have Blue Man Group replace the marching band. Have dolphins jump out of the pond on cue, timed with the fountain when players are selected as the fountain changes colors to the team picking.

Also, have the league fully embrace the gambling aspect, with the flotilla sponsored by Draft Kings or the other fantasy leagues that are 100 percent not gambling (wink).

LINK: Last Week Tonight and Fantasy Sports

Go even further, by placing obstacles on stage to test player agility, so fans can really see what their team just picked.

Put tigers on stage for players to dodge like Russell Crowe in Gladiator to show how badly they want that contract. Have a wedding chapel complete with an Elvis impersonator to see if those future players know how to use a prenuptial agreement.

Once they get their jersey, place craps tables and slot machines stage left so they can bet it all, and then undoubtedly lose it because as Danny Ocean put it, "The house always wins" in Ocean's 11.

Have Mike Tyson singing that Phil Collins classic before punching out every draft pick when the beat drops on his favorite part.

The day after getting drafted, have the players wake up with no recollection of the night before, with a tattoo and their wallets missing.

Of course, that is all over the top.

I do hope the league truly embrace the stereotypical Las Vegas experience though, and leans into the gambling aspect that they have historically never condoned nor stopped. In Vegas it is all legal.

Besides, the soon-to-be-draftees have hit the jackpot. They are getting ready to win big on the first hand at the big casino known as the NFL.

Now they just have to play long enough, win that next big hand, and they can step away from the table.

But like any casino, the NFL eats up and spits out its players once their is nothing left. Be it when age catches up, a career ending injury, or the threat of CTE. Some players may step away at the right time, but like most gamblers, many players will leave the league with nothing in the end.

Maybe it is a good thing the Draft is being held in Vegas. At least now the league is showing it has a lot more in common with the city. Fitting they finally have a team there in 2020.

LINK: Why do so many players go broke