Tuesday, March 25, 2008

NFL season opener yields to McCain speech


By Paul J. Gough
2 hours, 28 minutes ago


NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) -
The National Football
League
and NBC will likely move up the time of the league's
September season opener so it won't conflict with presidential
nominee John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican
National Convention
.

Since 2002, the NFL has held its season opener on the first
Thursday night after Labor Day. This year, the game runs smack
into the final night of the convention, when McCain will
officially accept the nomination and give a nationally
televised speech from Minneapolis.

While the NFL has yet to announce its schedule for the 2008
season, it's apparently not going to shy away from having its
season opener on the scheduled day, with the game likely
featuring the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

So, the NFL and NBC have agreed in principle to have the
kickoff at 7 p.m. ET instead of the traditional 8:30 p.m. That
would mean, except in the event of an overtime, that the game
would end before NBC's expected one hour of convention coverage
for the night.

The move comes with several risks, including a loss of
audience since the game would start so early on the West Coast.
Also, it could impact any pregame special or entertainment that
the NFL or NBC could schedule. It would, though, give NBC News
a strong lead-in to its convention coverage.

In August 2000, ABC asked the NFL to start an exhibition
game at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. so that ABC could carry an
hour of coverage from the Democratic National Convention
beginning at 10 p.m. The league agreed.

The Republican National Convention has been on the NFL
radar since it was announced for early September. "We've been
talking with NBC Sports about this," an NFL spokesman said.

The NFL schedule is announced in two parts, the first in
late March or early April coinciding with the annual owners
meeting and the second later on. The NFL owners' meeting begins
Monday.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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