It has become a tradition over the last several years that the National Football League opens its season on a Thursday night in early September, with the previous season’s Super Bowl champions’ playing a home game. But not this year. The NFL has announced that the league will open the 2012 season on Wednesday, September 5, so that NBC — the network with broadcast rights to the game — can devote Thursday night to coverage of President Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In 2008, the league and NBC went ahead with the opening game on Thursday although this collided with the speech by the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, at the conclusion of the GOP convention. The game was begun earlier than usual, and McCain waited until it was over to give his speech.
The NFL has not played a game on Wednesday since 1948.