FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 28th, 2018

RECORD-SETTING PHILIP RIVERS AND LOS ANGELES CHARGERS VISIT BEN ROETHLISBERGER AND PITTSBURGH STEELERS IN MATCHUP OF TOP AFC TEAMS ON NBC’S SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Coverage Begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET; 8:20 p.m. ET Kickoff Time for SNF

First of Two Heavy-Hitting SNF Games to Open December (Bears at Rams on Dec. 9), Featuring Teams with Combined .761 Winning Percentage

Only 7 Primetime Telecasts Have Averaged 20 Million Viewers This Fall – ALL from NBC SNF; Viewership for SNF Up 9% From ‘17 

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App to Live Stream All Sunday Night Football Games to Desktops, Tablets, Connected TVs, & Mobile Devices

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 28, 2018 – In a matchup of quarterbacks drafted in the first round in 2004, Ben Roethlisberger and the AFC-North leading Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3-1) host Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers (8-3) in a pivotal conference showdown on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Coverage begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by SNF at 8:20 p.m. ET, from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

As December games begin, both teams aim to improve their positioning in the AFC playoff race. Despite a narrow loss to the Denver Broncos last week, the Steelers remain in first-place atop the AFC North, while the Chargers sit one game behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West.

This week’s matchup is the first of two heavy-hitting SNF Games to open December, featuring teams with a combined .761 winning percentage (Rams at Bears on Dec. 9).

Calling Chargers-Steelers is Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his record 33rd season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 16-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth; and two-time Emmy Award-winning sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. This marks the 10th season that Michaels and Collinsworth will serve as the announce team in the NBC broadcast booth. In addition, three-time Super Bowl referee and SNF’s rules analyst Terry McAulay will join Michaels and Collinsworth in the booth.

Rivers enters his fifth career regular-season matchup with Roethlisberger (each has won twice) after making NFL history in last week’s win over the Arizona Cardinals. He set single-game NFL records with a completion percentage of 96.8 (28 of 29), including 25 consecutive completions to start the game.

Roethlisberger passed 462 yards in last week’s loss against Denver and leads the AFC with 3,664 passing yards this season, while Juju Smith-Schuster ranks second in receiving yards in the AFC with 1,055 yards.

Mike Tirico will host Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET on NBC alongside Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, NFL insider Mike Florio and PFT Live co-host Chris Simms from NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. Liam McHugh will co-host Football Night in America on-site from Heinz Field.   

NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Football is led by executive producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff.

NBCSPORTS.COM & NBC SPORTS APP TO LIVE STREAM ALL NBC NFL GAMES:

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will stream all NBC games to desktops, tablets, mobile devices and connected TVs via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. This marks the first season that NBC Sports is able to live stream to mobile devices and on PlayStation 4. The full HD-quality video stream will come directly from NBC’s broadcasts. Powered by Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports app is available on Apple iOS, Android and select Samsung devices, as well as on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Win10, PlayStation and Xbox.

PETER KING’S NFL COLUMN “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” DEBUTS EVERY MONDAY EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

A new “Football Morning in America” will post every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com, making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Florio, and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

PFT LIVE – WEEKDAYS AT 7 A.M. ET ON NBCSN

Mike Florio and co-host Chris Simms bring fans the latest NFL news and interviews with players and coaches every weekday morning with PFT Live on NBCSN at 7 a.m. ET. Peter King will also contribute regularly to PFT Live’s coverage throughout the regular season. In addition, on the mornings after games where rulings are a hot topic, McAulay will join Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Radio and NBCSN.

The two-hour PFT Live 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. The program is a simulcast of NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live national program that airs daily beginning at 6 a.m. ET.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SOCIAL MEDIA

  • SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its seventh season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look around each SNF city, as well as access inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field, and on the sideline, as our social media producer captures the best photos of Sunday night and posts in real time. Each week, SNF on Instagram will host Instagram Live interviews with Michele Tafoya and players from each team. In addition, SNF on Instagram will utilize Instagram stories to maximize fans’ exposure to the Sunday Night Football
  • SNF ON TWITTER: Using tweets, photos, and videos, @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players. Additionally, Tafoya will provide real-time tweets from the sideline to provide followers with updates all game long.
  • SNF ON SNAPCHAT: For the second season, NBC Sports’ Snapchat account will be creating content on the platform at each Sunday Night Football game, including Kickoff and from the SNF The NBC Sports Snapchat account will take fans behind the scenes to the FNIA set and around cities where Sunday Night Football comes to town, utilizing lenses and filters to customize content specifically for the Snapchat audience.
  • SNF ON FACEBOOK: – At nearly 3.7 million likes strong, the Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides social-first stories, photos and video every week.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL BUS RETURNS FOR 2018 NFL SEASON 

NBC Sports Group’s Sunday Night Football bus returns this season to travel the country, visiting the host cities of select Sunday Night Football games. The bus will bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to various SNF locations, before arriving at its final destination in Week 17.

Fans will get a closer look at the behind-the-scenes action of SNF broadcasts on the bus, which will take fans from the field, to the studio and in the production trucks. Features of the bus include an interactive replica of the control room, an interactive player wall, a Carrie Underwood music experience, a replica of the Football Night in America desk, an area showcasing SNF’s new initiative with the Boys & Girls Clubs and more.

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 a 55-inch monitor housing social media elements.

NBC SPORTS RADIO

NBC Sports Radio will surround the 2018 NFL season with daily coverage across more than 425 radio affiliates, highlighted by PFT Live, featuring NFL insider and Football Night In America commentator Mike Florio daily from 6-9 a.m. ET; the PFT PM podcast hosted by Florio, which takes a look back at the day that was in the NFL; Safety Blitz with Rodney Harrison and Dan Schwartzman; featuring three-time All Pro and two-time Super Bowl-winner Rodney Harrison; and more.

To listen to a live stream of NBC Sports Radio, or find your local affiliate, visit 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, and San Francisco, will surround the 2018 NFL season with in-depth news, analysis and original programming on the teams that matter most in more than 40 million U.S. households.

NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IS PRIMETIME’S #1 SHOW, UP 9% FROM LAST SEASON;FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA UP 5%

Through Week 12 of the NFL season, NBC Sunday Night Football, primetime TV’s #1 show for a history-making seven consecutive years, once again tops primetime television and is averaging a Total Audience Delivery of 20.0 million viewers – up 9% from last year at this point (18.4 million) and pacing for SNF’s best season since the record-setting 2015, based on live plus same day data provided by Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Prior to 2011, a sports series had never been primetime television’s top show for a full season.

Since Sept. 1, there have been seven primetime TV shows to average at least 20 million viewers – ALL seven are NBC NFL games.

Football Night in America delivered 9.2 million viewers on Sunday for its nationally-rated window from 7:30-8:15 pm ET on NBC, its most-watched of the season, up 36% vs. last year, and best for a Week 9 FNIA on record (since show began in 2006).

Football Night in America continues to be the most-watched weekly studio show in sports,  averaging 7.4 million viewers from 7:30-8:15 p.m. ET  – up 5% from the comparable time window in 2017.

2018 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
*Sun. Dec. 2 Week 13 Los Angeles Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers
*Sun. Dec. 9 Week 14 Los Angeles Rams at Chicago Bears
*Sun. Dec. 16 Week 15 Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Rams
*Sun. Dec. 23 Week 16 Kansas City Chiefs at Seattle Seahawks
*Sun. Dec. 30 Week 17 TBD
     

*Flex Week

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING: Flexible scheduling will be used in Weeks 11-17. Additionally, in Weeks 5-10, flexible scheduling may be used in no more than two weeks. In Weeks 5-16, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday or Monday nights.

A flexible scheduling move would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the Sunday night game will be announced no later than six days prior to December 30. The schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications will be moved to that time slot. Flexible scheduling ensures quality matchups in all Sunday time slots in those weeks and gives “surprise” teams a chance to play their way into prime time.

For more information about NBC Sports Group shows and properties, including press releases, photos, talent and executive bios and headshots, please visit NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL