DRAFT DAY (Rated PG-13)

Quality sports films are not uncommon. More recent really good ones that come to mind include “42” and “Moneyball.” Other popular favorites are “Field of Dreams,” “The Natural,” and “Bull Durham.”

Oddly enough, all the sports films mentioned so far have been focused on baseball, perhaps proving, to some extent, the national pastime’s enduring popularity, even if the NFL claims supremacy.

Ivan Reitman’s “Draft Day,” obviously produced with the cooperation of the NFL, breaks the mold, turning out a solid gridiron saga that’s finely tuned to front office maneuverings rather than pigskin heroics on the turf.

In many respects, “Draft Day” is the football equivalent of “Moneyball,” where it’s about the dynamics of fielding a team. The drama is behind-the-scenes, and here it all takes place in one day, leading up to the NFL’s annual draft of college players at New York’s cherished Radio City Music Hall.

Kevin Costner is like the John Wayne of sports films. Whether it’s the well-known baseball titles or films like “Tin Cup” and “For the Love of the Game,” Costner owns every sports film in the same way Wayne owned the Westerns.

Hardly anybody is more credible than Costner as the aging competitor or athletic mentor. His Sonny Weaver, Jr. is the besieged general manager of the woeful Cleveland Browns, a venerable NFL franchise with a blue collar fan base clamoring for a winning team.

Sonny’s personal and professional life is on trial for the course of one day. His father, the former beloved coach of the Browns, recently passed away. Sports radio hosts still hold a grudge for Sonny having forced his father into retirement a few years back.

The general manager is also carrying on a covert romance with the team’s salary-cap expert, Ali (the fetching Jennifer Garner making the most of a relatively small role). Just for added pressure on Sonny, Ali springs the news that she is pregnant.

Meanwhile, Sonny must also contend with a few egomaniacs in the organization, none of which adds more pressure than team owner Anthony Molina (Frank Langella), who insists on making a “big splash” in the draft by going for Heisman Trophy winner Bo Callahan (Josh Pence).

The other most troubling person with a swelled head is the volatile Coach Penn (Denis Leary), new to the Browns and eager to pick up another oversized Super Bowl championship ring. Coach Penn is equally insistent that the team go for Callahan.

The Seattle Seahawks have the first pick in the draft, and so it is up to Sonny to do some wheeling-and-dealing for Cleveland to get first choice. To do so, he’s obliged to trade away his number one draft picks for the next three years. Ouch! Anyone can tell you that’s a tough bargain.

Clever and resourceful, Sonny treats the draft day negotiations as if he were channeling Garry Kasparov in a chess tournament. There are a lot of moving pieces during the course of the day where Sonny engages general managers from Buffalo to Houston and places in-between.

Keeping cool under pressure, Sonny must also contend with the persistence of NFL prospect Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman, who played Jackie Robinson in “42”), whose college record is blemished by an infraction but who otherwise appears to be a person of solid character.

One takeaway from “Draft Day” is that character does matter. It’s a subject that weighs heavily on Sonny’s mind as he digs deeper into the background of Bo Callahan, the star quarterback of the University of Wisconsin, where even his coach (Sam Elliott) seems oddly reticent to sing his praises.

Tempers flare from time to time, whether in the Cleveland war room, where Sonny keeps his assistants mostly in line with the game plan, though the hot-headed Coach Penn is practically unhinged during Sonny’s controversial moves to keep everyone guessing until the clock almost runs out on making the draft pick.

Tom Welling’s Brian Drew is the team’s current quarterback, but he’s coming off an injury that some believe has him washed up. Naturally, the veteran player thinks otherwise and delivers a potent message to the GM.

Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters” and “Animal House”) has a long track record of hit comedies. “Draft Day” is a departure for the director, both in tone and subject matter. While there are humorous moments, “Draft Day” is a sports drama focused on characters rather than action on the field.

Just like “Moneyball,” there’s plenty of talk in the backroom and on the phones. To spice up the conversations, the director employs the split-screen technique to add some tension to the negotiating process. Mostly, it works, but some may tire of the frequency.

Before leaving home for the office on draft day, Sonny tucks a slip of paper into his pocket. Since the camera lingers on this move, we know it has significance. Indeed, it explains everything once all is said and done.

I’ll admit that being a sports fan facilitates the enjoyment of this movie. But Costner and the whole cast are so good, and the dialogue is so sharp and crisp with palpable tension in the air, that “Draft Day” is intriguing, compelling entertainment.

To this sports-loving critic, “Draft Day” has jumped right into the pantheon of the best sports movies, and that’s a tribute to the entire production team. They run with an attitude that produces a champion.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.