FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-7                 3/4/02

   

KICKOFF WEEKEND 2002 TO OPEN IN PRIMETIME
WITH THURSDAY NIGHT GAME ON ESPN

           

NFL Kickoff Weekend will open for the first time with a national TV midweek game this year with a Thursday night game, the league announced today.

The September 5 game on ESPN is expected to feature the San Francisco 49ers at the New York Giants at 8:30 PM ET, pending final completion of the 2002 playing schedule in early April.  The ESPN Kickoff Weekend opener will be the first of three primetime games on NFL Kickoff Weekend 2002. 

“This special Thursday night game is a great new element for our Kickoff Weekend 2002,” said NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE.  “It gives fans and the league an additional primetime platform to enjoy the start of what promises to be another outstanding football season.  Kickoff Weekend will now begin on Thursday night and culminate on Monday night with a full slate of Sunday games in between.”

ESPN’s Sunday Night Football – basic cable’s highest-rated series for the 16 years that it has aired – will conclude a schedule of 14 NFL games on Sunday, September 8.  Kickoff 2002 Weekend will conclude with ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football on September 9.

“This is truly a landmark enhancement to our longstanding NFL relationship,” said ESPN President GEORGE BODENHEIMER.  “We’re thrilled for our fans and affiliates to televise the NFL’s Kickoff Weekend opener, and proud that the league has chosen to work with us to set the stage for the season with this special telecast.”

ESPN once again will carry 18 NFL games over 17 weeks of the regular season.  The September 5 Kickoff Weekend opener will switch to the beginning of the season one of the two midseason ESPN Thursday night NFL games that normally are played.  

The full 2002 schedule for the realigned NFL, which will add the Houston Texans as its 32nd team this year, is expected to be announced in early April.