ESPN2 to televise MLB's 2007 First-Year Player Draft-mlb.com

With the NFL, NBA and now MLB drafts on television, the NHL must follow up by having their draft on t.v. Also, it would be great for the NFL to institute baseball's rule by permitting each team five minutes decide on their first-round selection.

If this happened the first-round of the football draft wouldn't last six hours and eight minutes.

05/07/2007 1:58 PM ET
ESPN2 to televise MLB's 2007 First-Year Player Draft

Major League Baseball's 2007 First-Year Player Draft will be carried live by ESPN2 from 2:00-6:00 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, June 7th, marking the first time that the Draft will be telecast. The Draft will be held at The Milk House at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

ESPN2 will air each Club's first round choice. Clubs will have a maximum of five minutes to make their picks during the first round. Following the pick-by-pick coverage of the first round, ESPN2's telecast will continue as the Draft is ongoing until 6:00 p.m. (EDT). After the completion of ESPN2's coverage, the first day of the Draft will proceed until approximately 8:30 p.m. (EDT). On Friday, June 8th, the Draft will resume at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) and then will continue to its conclusion.

"Major League Baseball is delighted that ESPN2 will provide live coverage of our Draft," said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. "I am glad that this agreement will give fans access to see this critical function of an organization's development. This is an idea whose time has come."

The selection order is determined by the reverse order of finish at the close of the previous championship season. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will have the first selection of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. The San Francisco Giants will have three selections in the first round, while the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers will each have two first round choices. Supplementary selections are given as compensation to those Clubs that lost Type A or B free agents.

The Draft will have 50 rounds and will conclude after all 30 teams have passed on a selection or after the final selection of the 50th round, whichever comes first.

MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, will offer comprehensive coverage of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, highlighted by two days of live multimedia coverage from Orlando on The Baseball Channel and live interactive pick-by-pick results via the exclusive Draft Caster.

Please see the accompanying file for the complete order of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.