Draft Day Movie Essay

The Business of Sports
The movie Draft Day is about the intrigues that go on in the National Football League (NFL) franchise during the drafting process. This film show how football teams, managers, and owners work to get top drafts to make a winning team. Kevin Costner plays Sonny Weaver, the general manager of Cleveland Browns trying to save his team that has been on the losing end for a long time. He makes an historical trade with Tom Michaels of Seattle Seahawk for the number one pick by giving out his team’s three first-round picks in the next three years. The movie shows Sonny’s efforts to make a winning team when all odds are turned against him. Sonny already has its own idea at the beginning of the movie. He wrote down his decision

on the green paper. Later in the movie, it turned out to be out of everyone’s expectation. The green paper not only shows who Sonny decided to pick, but also shows he's willing to sacrifice for the young men with NFL dream.
One key issue that is portrayed in the film is the domineering nature of team owners in the sports industry.

Team owners take on an overbearing role in the team decisions without consulting the general managers, coaches, and other staff involved (Rosner and Shropshire 312). For example, the film features Brown’s owner Anthony Molina demanding from the general manager Sonny Weaver that he needs to “make a splash.” By a splash, Anthony demands that the general manager has to make a forceful decision that ensures that they get the team members they crave. In reality, it is the job of the general manager to make the guiding decisions on the best team members to draft and the right move for the club. However, in this case, the owner takes the dominant role and does not want to be contradicted or consult with anyone. This proves that owners in the sports industry ignore the concept of teamwork in decision-making by pushing resolutions down to the managers without regard for the welfare or future of the entire

team.
It also becomes apparent that general managers operate by making deals to get the best drafts.

The idea is to intimidate one another and backing each other to a corner to ensure that one secures the best deal for his/her team. In the movie, Tom Michaels knowing that Sonny’s Browns has been on the losing end, makes a deal to forgo the number one pick while Sonny has to give him first-round draft picks in the coming three years. Sonny agrees to this not just because of pressure from the owner Anthony, but also because his team needs a quarterback and other key players to break the losing streak they have been enduring. The film also shows Sonny on the phone making a deal with the manager of Jacksonville Jaguars for the number 6 pick and he later overturns the tables on Tom by asking back his number one drafts in the next three years in exchange for getting Bo Callahan whom Seattle Seahawk desperately needs. Ideally, the sports industry works on exploiting the vulnerabilities of the other team to ensure that they get the best deals. General Managers use intimidation and tricks on the other team managers to lock on the best drafts picks

possible.
Another aspect of the movie that is intriguing is the integrity and reliability that is expected from the players. The players are a key part of the NFL franchise because they represent the brand. From the movie, Bo Callahan is portrayed as a valuable player and a hot prospect for any manager. However, through a few investigations that showed that he is non-committal and does not work well under pressure, his value instantly declined. When Sonny failed to pick him after making a major trade, all the other managers avoided picking him for fear that there is something unappealing about him that could ruin their team’s success. This shows that a player’s ability to have integrity is a crucial part of the drafting process. Players ought to watch themselves and remain vigilant to ensure they are likable in the public eye.
According to the textbook, Rosner and Shropshire (14) argue that in the sports business, the owners are driven by prestige, power, and ego. He adds that this makes these owners competitive in nature to achieve this power that allows them to have the ego. This becomes evident in the movie Draft Day especially in regards to Anthony (Rosner and Shropshire 5). Anthony, the owner of the Browns, enjoys the prestige and reputation of owning a team. He demands that Sonny makes a vigorous deal to make his team at the top of the others. During the draft, Anthony declares he can only seat next to other prominent owners and poses for the camera with a lot of pride. He feels superior knowing he has made a deal that gives him a chance to show-off. He values pecuniary benefits most, athlete selection next. He does not consider the quality of an athlete.
If I were Anthony Molina, the team owner of Cleveland Browns I would have let my general manager do his or her job. Even though I believe the manager might has made a mistake at first, I will see the final result. This is because while hiring the general manager, I know the manager has the skills required to do his/her job. There is no need to interfere with the job the manager does because he already has the skills and expertise to make the right decisions for the draft. As Anthony, rather than making a demand on whom I want drafted, I would have liaised with my team manager to brainstorm on the best way forward for the team. This would avoid misunderstandings like the one that occurred when Sonny refused to pick Callahan and instead went for Mack. Even though Anthony was angry and ready to fire Sonny, he realized Sonny had a plan, bigger and better, to make the Browns the team to watch out for in the coming league. So Anthony is not all bad. If he did not give Sonny the last five minuets, the team might have performed totally different. I believe every wise owner should give his or her manager one hundred percent trust.