FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 8th, 2015

NBC SPORTS GROUP SURROUNDS WEEK 1 OF 2015 NFL SEASON WITH NFL KICKOFF 2015 AND “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”

Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots Host Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, September 10. Coverage of NFL Kickoff 2015 Begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC

New York Giants Take On Dallas Cowboys in Season Debut of Sunday Night Football on September 13. Coverage Begins with Football Night In America at 7 p.m. ET on NBC

NBC Sports Live Extra to Offer Free Pass to Stream NFL Kickoff 2015 to Promote “TV Everywhere”

Debut of Carrie Underwood’s 2015 Edition of “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night” Airs September 13

Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio, Rodney Harrison and Paul Burmeister Airs Weekdays at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN

NFL Turning Point Season Premiere on Wednesday, September 16 at 11 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Stamford, Conn. – September 8, 2015 – NBC Sports Group kicks off its 10th season of Sunday Night Football this week, surrounding the 2015 NFL season with comprehensive multi-platform coverage across its unprecedented portfolio of assets. NFL coverage will include live game presentations on NBC with Sunday Night Football, the No. 1 show on primetime TV; pre-game coverage on NBC with Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports;  live streaming of Sunday Night Football for desktops, tablets and connected TVs on NBC Sports Live Extra; weekly TODAY segments highlighting the Together We Make Football campaign; daily studio coverage on NBCSN with Pro Football Talk; weekly programming on NBCSN with Emmy Award-nominated NFL Turning Point; daily radio coverage on more than 425 NBC Sports Radio affiliates across the United States; local team coverage on 10 NBC Sports Regional Networks; comprehensive fantasy football coverage on NBCSN with Fantasy Football Live, and online through Rotoworld.com; and additional digital and social media content.

In all, NBC will broadcast 21 games, including a Thanksgiving night game on Nov. 26, a Wild Card Playoff game on the weekend of Jan. 9-10, and a Divisional Playoff game on the Jan. 16-17 weekend.


NFL KICKOFF 2015 
AND SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

The NFL opens its regular season on Thursday, Sept. 10, with NFL Kickoff 2015 on NBC, as Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots host Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. A pre-game concert will feature multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and Grammy Award-winning band Train live from San Francisco, as part of the NFL’s On The Fifty campaign, which is dedicated to celebrating the Super Bowl and commemorating Super Bowl 50. Select portions of the concert will air on NBC. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Sunday Night Football, television’s No. 1 primetime show, kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 13, when Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys host Eli Manning and the New York Giants in an NFC East showdown from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET with Football Night In America, the most-watched studio show in sports (see below).

Calling both games are seven-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his record 30th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 16-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for Outstanding Event Analyst in each of his six seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and two-time Emmy Award-winning sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.

NBC’s coverage of NFL Kickoff 2015 and Sunday Night Football is led by Emmy Award-winning producer Fred Gaudelli and Emmy Award-winning director Drew Esocoff.

For the third year in a row, country music superstar Carrie Underwood will perform Waiting All Day for Sunday Night, the opening theme for Sunday Night Football. The 2015 edition will debut on Sunday, Sept. 13, prior to NBC’s first SNF broadcast of the 2015 NFL season. Carrie will visit with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, September 10, to show a sneak peek of the opening theme, and will also perform her new single “Smoke Break.” The opening theme has been part of the weekly telecast for all nine seasons of Sunday Night Football.


FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA

Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports, is hosted by 26-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas, who will report from Gillette Stadium, on Thursday, and AT&T Stadium, on Sunday. Costas will be joined on site by Michaels, Collinsworth, Tafoya, and two-time Super Bowl winner Hines Ward.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Gillette Stadium on Thursday night, and from NBC Sports Group’s International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., on Sunday night. Patrick will be joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN and NBCSports.com, and NFL Insider Peter King.

Beginning on Sept. 13, and continuing throughout the regular season, Kathryn Tappen, Carolyn Manno, and Paul Burmeister will alternate reporting from the site of one of the high-profile afternoon games.

In addition to the weekly Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America broadcasts, NBC Sports Group’s NFL coverage also includes digital content and social media extensions that are available online, as well as NFL-related shoulder programming available on NBCSN.

NBC SPORTS GROUP NFL WEEK 1 COVERAGE

DATE TIME COVERAGE NETWORK
Tues., Sept. 8 6 p.m. Pro Football Talk NBCSN
  6:30 p.m. Fantasy Football Live NBCSN
Wed. Sept. 9 6 p.m. Pro Football Talk NBCSN
  6:30 p.m. Fantasy Football Live NBCSN
Thurs., Sept. 10 6 p.m. Pro Football Talk (90-minute edition) NBCSN
7:30 p.m. NFL Kickoff 2015 NBC
8:30 p.m. Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots   NBC
Sun., Sept. 13 7 p.m. Football Night in America NBC
8:30 p.m. SNF: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys NBC

 


NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA
OFFERS FREE PASS TO STREAM NFL KICKOFF 2015

For the eighth consecutive season, NBC Sports will live stream the entire Sunday Night Football schedule. In order to promote and build awareness for NBC Sports’ “TV Everywhere” live streaming product, NBC Sports Live Extra will offer fans a free pass for one game only, allowing consumers to access NFL Kickoff 2015 on September 10 without being prompted to log-in with their cable/satellite/telco credentials.

NBC Sports Live Extra will stream all SNF games to desktops, tablets and connected TVs. The full HD-quality video stream will come directly from NBC’s broadcast of SNF. (NOTE: NBC Sports Digital does not have NFL live streaming rights to mobile devices.)

For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store and Apple TV.

 

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL DIGITAL COVERAGE

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ALL-ACCESSFor the sixth straight season, and with a new look and feel, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes and social media driven content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive photos and videos of the Sunday Night Football production team, look-ins on SNF production meetings, Michele Tafoya’s “Ten With Tafoya” interviews with key NFL players, and conversations with SNF and FNIA talent. In addition to the behind-the-scenes photos & videos, SNF All-Access houses all of the social media conversation surrounding SNF all week long. Fans can access tweets from across the league, Instagram photos and which players and topics are trending all within one experience.

Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/

 

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SOCIAL MEDIA:

  • SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC – At nearly 3 million LIKES strong, the Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides stories, photos and videos exclusively behind-the-scenes at SNF every week. The page aggregates all SNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.comSNF All AccessProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com as well as hosts fan focused contests and sweepstakes throughout the season
  • SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC – Using tweets, photos, Vines and videos, @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players. Additionally, Michele Tafoya will provide real-time tweets from the sideline to provide followers with updates all game long.
  • SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its fourth season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field and around each SNF city. Fans will get an exclusive look through Instagram of what life is like on the sideline, as our social media producer captures the best photos of Sunday night and posts in real time.

 

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL BUS

NBC Sports Group’s all-new Sunday Night Football bus returns this season to travel the country visiting the host cities of all 17 Sunday Night Football games. The bus will arrive in each city two to three days prior to the game, making stops at local landmarks and events before heading to the game site. Once at the stadium, the Sunday Night Football bus will give fans the opportunity to interact with America’s most-watched primetime television show with exclusive activities, memorabilia and an interactive 55-inch touch screen housing social media elements, photos and video.

The inside of the bus brings fans from the field to the studio set, featuring football field decaling on the floor, a welcome reel with the SNF production team looking back on 10 years of SNF, and replica of the Football Night in America studio available for fan photos, complete with a GIF photo booth which takes a series of pictures and compiles them into a sharable GIF. From the life-size NFL players and Carrie Underwood on the outside, to the life size “Photo Bomb” wall featuring NFL players and wall adorned with Wilson footballs representing each SNF match-up on the inside, fans will have numerous opportunities to interact and share memories from the bus.

Following each Sunday night game, the stars of the game will autograph the 2015 “Players of the Game Sunday Night Football,” which will be displayed on the bus alongside the football signed by the 2014 SNF players of the game. In addition, key highlights from last season’s SNF will be shown on the bus’ TV, and a photo of each 2015 SNF Player of the Game will be added to the SNF schedule display on the outside of the bus.


NBCSPORTS.COM/FOLLOWSNF

Fans can digitally follow the Sunday Night Football bus at NBCSports.com/FollowSNF. The site will include an interactive map of where the bus has been, and where it’s traveling next, allowing fans to take a virtual #SNF tour. In addition, fans can also participate in a tweet contest to show their team pride and see who’s leading in Twitter mentions each week.

A dedicated producer will be collecting photos and creating videos of the bus’ travels and the cast of characters it encounters along the way. Life on the road with the Sunday Night Football bus will be featured on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as aggregated on NBCSports.com/FollowSNF using #SNF.


“THE SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”

For the fourth consecutive season NBC Sports will present the “Player of the Game Sunday Night Football,” a custom made football from Wilson, which will travel with the SNF crew all season long. Fans of SNF on Facebook and Twitter will be able to keep up with “The Sunday Night Football” on the SNF Facebook page, follow its path through each city and recommend where it should visit while in town. In addition, fans can visit NBCSports.com/FollowSNF.

At the end of each SNF game, the ball will be signed by the player of the game. Photos, video and stories around the “Player of the Game Sunday Night Football,” and its travels will live on Facebook, Twitter, NBCSports.com/FollowSNF and SNFAllAccess.com

To help fans continue the conversation about the Sunday Night Football bus and the “Player of the Game Sunday Night Football,” NBCSports.com/FollowSNF and SNFAllAccess.com will aggregate tweets and Instagram posts utilizing #SNF. The feed will include NBC Sports NFL experts, players, teams, and others talking about SNF and their interactions with the bus and the ball.

 

NFL TURNING POINT SEASON PREMIERE AIRS WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 AT 11 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

The fifth season of Emmy-nominated NFL Turning Point, NBCSN’s weekly show co-produced by NFL Films, will debut Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 11 p.m. ET, and will be hosted by Football Night in America’s Dan Patrick. The hour-long program will air throughout the NFL season and will focus on the crucial “turning point” moment in several games each week by utilizing NFL Films’ unmatched cinematography, and sideline and on-field audio.


PRO FOOTBALL TALK 
ON NBCSN WEEKNIGHTS AT 6 P.M. ET

Two-time Super Bowl champion and veteran Football Night In America studio analyst Rodney Harrison joins co-hosts Mike Florio and Paul Burmeister every weekday throughout the 2015 season on NBCSN’s Pro Football Talk.

Pro Football Talk airs weekdays at 6 p.m. ET. The 30-minute Pro Football Talk provides all-encompassing coverage of the NFL, including the most current news and analysis, thought-provoking debates, and interviews with a wide variety of NFL newsmakers. (Pro Football Talk will occasionally air at 6:30 p.m. ET on select nights during the 2015-16 Premier League season.)

Florio also hosts Pro Football Talk Live, the three-hour football-focused program that airs on NBC Sports Radio from Noon-3 p.m. ET, and simulcasts on NBC Sports Live Extra from noon-1 p.m. ET. The show features Florio’s critically-acclaimed NFL insight, all-encompassing coverage of the league with the most current news and analysis, and thought-provoking debate.
FANTASY FOOTBALL LIVE ON NBCSN TUESDAY – THURSDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 P.M. ET

Now in its third season on NBCSN, Fantasy Football Live combines the best fantasy football expertise from Yahoo Sports and NBC Sports, including unique metrics from Yahoo Sports’ leading fantasy football platform, and full integration with NBC Sports’ premier fantasy sports information site, Rotoworld.com.

The 30-minute, multi-platform fantasy football program airs Tuesdays through Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN during the NFL regular season. Fantasy Football Live is hosted by NBC Sports’ Dave Briggs, and features a roster of NBC Sports, Rotoworld and Yahoo Sports fantasy analysts, including NBCSN’s Kay Adams, NBC Sports NFL analysts Brian WestbrookJon Ritchie and Ross Tucker, and Yahoo Sports’ Brad Evans,Brandon Funston and Andy Behrens.

Fantasy Football Live on NBCSN combines the best fantasy football expertise from Yahoo! Sports and NBC Sports, including unique metrics from Yahoo! Sports’ leading fantasy football platform, and full integration with NBC Sports’ premier fantasy sports information site, Rotoworld.com.

Hosted by NBC Sports’ Dave Briggs,  Fantasy Football Live features a roster of Yahoo Sports, NBC Sports and Rotoworld fantasy analysts, including Rotoworld’s Kay Adams, as well as Yahoo Sports’ Brad EvansBrandon Funston and Andy Behrens.

 

NBC SPORTS RADIO


NBC Sports Radio will surround the 2015 NFL season with daily coverage across more than 425 radio affiliates, highlighted by Safety Blitz with Rodney Harrison; featuring three-time All Pro and two-time Super Bowl-winner Rodney Harrison; the Amani Toomer and Dan Schartzman Show; and Pro Football Talk Live, featuring NFL insider and Football Night In America commentator Mike Florio.

To listen to a live stream of NBC Sports Radio, or find your local affiliate, visit http://www.NBCSportsRadio.com.
NBC SPORTS REGIONAL NETWORKS

NBC Sports Regional Networks, which serve top NFL markets such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston and San Francisco, will surround the 2015 NFL season with in-depth news, analysis and original programming on the teams that matter most in more than 50 million U.S. cable and satellite households.


CARRIE UNDERWOOD

For the third consecutive season, Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist, Carrie Underwood, will perform “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” the opening theme for primetime television’s No. 1 program, Sunday Night Football on NBC. Country music superstar Underwood, the season-four winner of American Idol in 2005, made her Sunday Night Football debut to open the 2013 NFL season. The opening theme will continue each week kicking off Sunday Night Football every Sunday night throughout the NFL season on NBC.

12 NFL players, who have accounted for 36 Pro Bowl selections, three Super Bowl rings, and seven first-round draft picks, will participate in the open (nine, denoted with an asterisk*, took part in a shoot this past June). Players include New York Giants WR Odell Beckham, Jr.*, Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown*, Dallas Cowboys WR Dez Bryant*, Seattle Seahawks S Kam Chancellor*, San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck, Green Bay Packers LB Clay Matthews,*, Philadelphia Eagles RB DeMarco Murray*, Arizona Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson*, Denver Broncos DE DeMarcus Ware, Houston Texans DE J.J. Watt, and Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson*.

Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film.  A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed nearly 100 major honors, sold more than 56 million records worldwide, and recorded 21 #1 singles, 11 of which she co-wrote.  The first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, Underwood was recognized as Pollstar’s top female country touring artist for her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, and 2012.  Her four studio albums, Some HeartsCarnival RidePlay On, and Blown Away – each certified multi-Platinum or Platinum, and each an American Music Awards winner as Country Album of the Year – tallied 38 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with songs that have been streamed more than 1.4 billion times worldwide.  In 2013, she starred as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy®-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers.  In late 2014, the Grand Ole Opry member released her first hits collection, Greatest Hits: Decade #1.  Celebrating her first 10 years of music, the 25 songs included two new hits co-written by Underwood: the Platinum-certified, GRAMMY-winning “Something in the Water,” as well as the #1 smash “Little Toy Guns.”  On November 4, she’ll return for an eighth consecutive year as co-host of the CMA Awards.  Underwood is currently working on new music for her fifth studio album.
SNF: NO. 1 PRIMETIME PROGRAM ON TELEVISION FOR 4 YEARS RUNNING

NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the 2014-15 television season as the No. 1 show in primetime in household rating, viewership and the coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, based on live plus same day data from The Nielsen Company (September-May).

This marks the fourth consecutive television season — and the only four times on record — that a sports series has been the highest-rated and most-watched show of the primetime TV season.

For the 2014-15 primetime television season, Sunday Night Football ranks as the highest-rated (12.5 HH rating) and most-watched show (21.3 million, viewers 2+), and the No. 1 program in the advertiser-coveted Adult 18-49 demographic (7.7).

During the NFL postseason (not included in SNF season average), NBC televised Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015, which became the most-watched program in U.S. television history (114.4 million viewers), and the AFC Wild Card game in primetime on January 3, 2015 (27.9 million viewers for Baltimore-Pittsburgh).

The critically acclaimed Football Night in America, which precedes Sunday Night Football, each week at 7 p.m. ET, averaged 8.1 million viewers in 2014, making it the most watched studio show in sports with its best viewership since 2011.


2015 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

NBC will broadcast 19 primetime NFL games during the 2015 regular season, highlighted by: Tom Brady and the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots hosting Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in NFL Kickoff 2015 on Thursday, September 10 followed by the Sunday Night Football opener on September 13 with Eli Manning and the New York Giants visiting Tony Romo and the defending NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys; the first Thanksgiving game in Green Bay in 92 years as the defending NFC North champion Packers host the rival Chicago Bears in primetime; and Brady-Manning XVII – the 17th matchup between quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning – when the New England Patriots visit the Denver Broncos on Nov. 29.

 

2015 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Thurs. Sept. 10 NFL Kickoff  Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots
Sun. Sept. 13 Week 1   New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Sun. Sept. 20 Week 2   Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
Sun. Sept. 27 Week 3   Denver Broncos at Detroit Lions
Sun. Oct. 4 Week 4 Dallas Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
*Sun. Oct. 11 Week 5   San Francisco 49ers at New York Giants
*Sun. Oct. 18 Week 6 New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts
*Sun. Oct. 25 Week 7 Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers
*Sun. Nov. 1 Week 8 Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos
*Sun. Nov. 8 Week 9 Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
*Sun. Nov. 15 Week 10 Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks
*Sun. Nov. 22 Week 11  Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers
**Thurs. Nov. 26 Week 12 Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
*Sun. Nov. 29 Week 12 New England Patriots at Denver Broncos
*Sun. Dec. 6 Week 13 Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers
*Sun. Dec. 13 Week 14 Seattle Seahawks at Baltimore Ravens
*Sun. Dec. 20 Week 15 Cincinnati Bengals at San Francisco 49ers
*Sun. Dec. 27 Week 16 Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens
*Sun. Jan. 3 Week 17 TBD

 

*Flex Week

** Thanksgiving Night Game

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Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/

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