The Jacksonville Jaguars, through their "You Make the Pick presented by P&G" sweepstakes, are rewarding one lucky fan in the United States and one in the United Kingdom with the opportunity to announce a Jaguars draft pick. The picks will take place on Saturday, May 2 during the fourth through seventh rounds of the 2015 NFL Draft. The event will be televised on NFL Network in the U.S. and Sky Sports News in the U.K. Seth Studer of Jacksonville has been selected from the team's home city to announce the fourth and fifth round picks on May 2. He will do so from the North Deck of the stadium at EverBank Field.
"I am so excited to be announcing these picks for the Jags, Studer said. "I'm a huge fan and I think it's awesome to be involved. It's pretty cool that a fan in the U.K. also gets this opportunity. It's an exciting time for the Jags, we're building excitement and the international exposure that we get from playing in London is great for the team and the city of Jacksonville."
London will be the first-ever city outside of the USA to play a part of the NFL Draft with George Bedford, 25, announcing the Jaguars' sixth and seventh round picks from a London TV studio, having won a competition run by the team.
Given the Jaguars' commitment to play one home game a year in London over four seasons, the team wanted to honor its UK fan base by offering one fan the chance to make the announcement from London.
Bedford, who lives in Shepherd's Bush, will be revealing the name of the Jaguars' sixth and seventh-round draft picks to millions of viewers as part of a live broadcast via Sky Sports News in the U.K. and NFL Network in the U.S. on the evening of May 2.
Bedford said, "I was astonished to hear I had been picked – I would say I was speechless but due to the excitement I was actually talking a lot!
"Ever since the Jaguars committed to playing in London I became interested in them and I've just become more of a fan as they've continued to come back and do more in London. It's great that they're continuing to involve their U.K. fans – I'm just the really lucky one."
The NFL Draft attracted 45.7 million TV viewers last year and will originate from Chicago this year. Through rounds 4-7, each NFL team will announce its draft picks live from their team base. The Jaguars will be the only team to have two home bases – one at EverBank Field in Jacksonville and the other in London.
The Jaguars are the only NFL team to make a yearly commitment to London, playing one home game each year in the capital since 2013. For 2015, the Jaguars will head to Wembley Stadium, for their third visit in as many years, to face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 25.
