Sunday Night Football

In 2006, NBC got back into the pro football television business following an eight year absence. As part of a new agreement with the National Football League, NBC took over the telecast of Sunday Night Football, which had been previously airing on cable television since 1987. ESPN, which had been broadcasting those games, switched to Mondays and took over the Monday Night Football telecasts from its corporate partner at ABC.

The NFL decided to make the Sunday night game the marquee game of the week. In conjunction with the league, NBC took several bold steps to accomplish this feat. The first was the launching of a 75-minute pre-game show called Football Night in America. The program featured a scene-setter with the play-by-play crew and all of the highlights of that Sunday's action, mixed in with in-studio commentary and analysis. The host is Bob Costas, and he is joined by co-host Keith Olbermann, Sports Illustrated writer Peter King as their "insider," and three former players to analyze the action: Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis, and Tiki Barber.

The second bold move was to acquire a premier football broadcast team in Al Michaels and John Madden. Madden was freed up to sign with NBC when ABC's Monday Night Football affiliation ended, but Michaels was under contract to ABC to provide broadcasting for a variety of sports. A "trade" was worked out where Michaels would be allowed to join NBC in exchange for an increase of highlight package usage by ESPN and the rights of cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which had been created by Walt Disney and lost to NBC Universal.

The third bold move was to incorporate the use of "flex-scheduling." In the past, the schedule for all NFL games was solidified before the season, meaning that late in the year, the best game of the week was often lost in the shuffle of regional action, while the primetime games could possibly have little or no playoff ramifications. The league agreed to a scheduling system that would allow NBC to switch specific games for other games that could provide better ratings opportunities. NBC also gets to host a special football telecast on the Thursday night of the first regular season weekend as a stand-alone season opening night game. They have exclusivity of coverage for the Saturday games on NFL Wild Card Weekend.

The 2008 season began on September 4 featuring a win by the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants over the Washington Redskins. Their first Sunday night game of the year will be at brand new Lucas Oil Stadium as the Indianapolis Colts host the Chicago Bears. The season finale is on December 28, with opponents to be determined by the flex-scheduling. In 2009, NBC will cover the Super Bowl on February 1 from Tampa, Florida.

NOTES: Weeks 11-16 subject to Flex Schedule. Week 17 game to be announced.