The moves re-emphasized that the league’s biggest priority remains making money — from relocation fees the moving teams pay the league, plus the league’s cut of naming rights, sponsorships<br />and other revenue boosts — no matter the complaints from deserted fans.<br />This year, the league outdid itself by holding the event outdoors for the first time, in a park in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where more than 70,000 people drank beer, rubbed elbows with fans of rival teams<br />and hooted and hollered as the names of the first 32 players chosen were announced.<br />Ratings may rebound, but the league’s owners — who make the majority of their revenue from television deals — now must confront the possibility<br />that the networks will resist paying ever larger sums for the right to air games.<br />draft was last held here, in 1961, teams chose players in a smoke-filled hotel ballroom, a modest<br />group of sportswriters dutifully covered the proceedings, and only a few fans bothered to attend.<br />Before then came a wave of relocations that pushed the league into new markets — but also alienated fans in three cities<br />that lost, or are losing, teams: San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland, Calif.
