We need sports. The NFL Draft is about to provide some. Here’s how you can join live

A live sports event will take center stage Thursday. You read that right. Welcome to the first “virtual” NFL Draft in the history of the league.

If you’re a Seattle Seahawks fan, there’s a way to take a front-row seat as the excitement unfolds.

A draft process originally scheduled to play out over three days on the Las Vegas Strip will, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, instead be conducted via Zoom calls and broadcast live to millions of viewers around the world via ESPN and the NFL Network.

Starting about 4:45 p.m. Pacific time, The News Tribune will be broadcasting live via Facebook all evening with many special guests from around the country. Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star will anchor a “second-screen” livestream on our Facebook page at facebook.com/tacomanewstribune. News Tribune Seahawks reporter Gregg Bell and Huskies reporter Lauren Kirschman will be part of the programming.

We’ll be projecting and discussing all 32 first-round picks as they come in, debating who your favorite team should be targeting and analyzing all the trades. Seattle currently has the 27th pick in the first round, but general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll have traded their original first-round choice in eight consecutive drafts.

From the first pick of 2020 (held by the Cincinnati Bengals) to the last (the Kansas City Chiefs), we’ll be with you all night to bring you inside analysis and answer some of your best questions on the air.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 5:01 AM with the headline "We need sports. The NFL Draft is about to provide some. Here’s how you can join live."