Amateur Sports Drafts
Each of the four major sports host their amateur drafts during the spring and summer months. The NFL draft is in April, the MLB draft is in early June, the NHL draft is in late June and the NBA draft is in late June as well. The only sport that is still active when their draft takes place is Major League Baseball. All other sports have finished their previous seasons by the time their draft rolls around.
Amateur sports drafts are surrounded by a lot of pomp and circumstance these days because all four of them are either aired on television, on the Internet, or both. Major League Baseball was never aired on television prior to the 2008 draft. Then, this year’s draft was moved to prime time on the MLB Network, which debuted on January 1, 2009.
The commissioner of each league will walk up to a podium with the league emblem on it and read the name of an amateur player being selected by a professional team. Of the four major sports only baseball does not allow the trading of draft picks between two teams in the league. Football, basketball, and hockey teams trade draft picks all the time for other picks or players during and after the regular season.
Being the first pick in the draft for any of the four major sports does not mean that you will become a star on the field, the court, or the ice. More often then not the number one pick does become a star but every now and then the number one pick never pans out as an athlete.