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 Miami Dolphins fan, there’s a way to take a front-row seat in South Florida 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 7:45 p.m., the Miami Herald will be broadcasting live via Facebook all evening with many special guests from around the country. Blair Kerkhoff, host of the SportsBeat KC daily podcast, will anchor a “second-screen” livestream with Miami Herald sports reporters on our Miami Herald Facebook page.

We’ll be projecting and discussing all 32 first-round picks as they come in, debating who your favorite team should be targeting and remembering some epic moments from previous drafts — such as 2017, when the Chiefs traded up to select Patrick Mahomes, the Texas Tech quarterback who’d become league MVP and then Super Bowl MVP in leading the franchise to its first championship in 50 years.

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

We’ll also be talking about Football Fan Heroes, our call for you to nominate someone special who’s gone beyond the pale in helping his or her neighbors manage life during these difficult times. The winner, determined next month, will receive a pair of tickets to an upcoming Miami Dolphins game at Hard Rock Stadium.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 1:12 PM.