NFL officially announces 2014 draft will be May 8-10, two weeks later

The NFL has officially moved the 2014 draft to May 8-10, two weeks later, citing a scheduling conflict. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

The NFL announced that the 2014 draft would be held May 8-10, two weeks later than its current schedule. Albert Breer reported the news via Twitter.

Last week, the league said it would move the draft to either the May 8 weekend or May 15 due to a scheduling conflict -- Easter week in 2014 falls during what would have been the draft's usual time, and the typical venue, Radio City Music Hall holds a "Spring Spectacular" show.

BURKE: Impact of move should be negligible

However, the schedule conflict rationale was met with considerable skepticism:

From an earlier report from SI's Don Banks:

"The league coming out and saying this is because of the Easter Bunny and the show is almost embarrassing," one NFC club executive said. "This is the NFL. You think we couldn't get those dates or make something work if we really wanted to? This is about moving the draft into May for (TV network) sweeps month. I'd rather somebody be honest and come out and just admit that it's about ratings and TV issues. But I get it. I suppose we all should be thankful in that everybody in the league benefits financially when the league has success from a TV perspective."

The 2014 league year will begin March 11, and the scouting combine will be Feb. 18-25, which does not represent a change from 2013, according to Breer.

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