In one of the dumber moves in Roger Goodell’s tenure as NFL commissioner, the draft will now be a three-day event.

The 2010 NFL Draft will now start on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and only the first round will be held on that day. The second and third rounds will resume on Friday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. and Rounds 4-7 will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.

“We continue to look for ways to make the draft more accessible to more fans,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. “Moving the first round to prime time on Thursday night will make the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television.”

I get what Goodell is trying to do. The first round is what most people care about, so he’s trying to get maximize the number of viewers he can attain for that round by having it on a popular TV night.

That’s fine, but the draft to me is about getting together with a bunch of buddies on the weekend, kicking a few back and gushing (more like ranting on most occasions) over who our favorite teams selected. Two years ago you could kill a Saturday watching the first three rounds and making it into a big event. Now I feel that Goodell is turning the draft into the Emmys with having the first round be on a Thursday night and then kicking the other rounds to the side by having it on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Maybe it’s just me and I’m making a bigger deal out of this than I should be. But I hate the thought of not being able to get up on a Saturday morning all pumped up for the first two rounds of the draft.