This just in from the National Football League, the season opening game to be hosted by the Super Bowl Champions, the New York Football Giants, will be pushed back one day from the originally scheduled Thursday, September 6 to Wednesday, September 5 to avoid a conflict with President Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.
Four years ago, the NFL had a similar conflict with Senator John McCain’s speech at the Republican National Convention and at the time, the league chose to move the speech back an hour and a half from 8:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time. As a result, the earlier kickoff sank ratings by 25% from the year before. Coincidentally, the 2008 season opening game also involved the Giants.
So this year, the game will be a day earlier, held at its regular time, and there should not be problems with the ratings.
Here’s the press release from the National Football League offices.
NFL KICKOFF GAME TO BE PLAYED ON WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 5
The 2012 season-opening NFL Kickoff game will be played on Wednesday, September 5 (NBC, 8:30 PM ET), Commissioner ROGER GOODELL announced today.
The game will be played on Wednesday to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama’s Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Super Bowl XLVI-champion New York Giants will host the season-opener at MetLife Stadium. NBC will televise the game at 8:30 PM ET and NFL Kickoff 2012 beginning at 7:30 PM ET.
That will do us for now.
