The NFL regular season kicks off tonight with the Saints-Packers game at Lambeau Field at 8:30pm ET. NBC will air the game live, with its pregame show to be telecast simultaneously on five different cable networks so that the broadcast net can carry President Obama's speech on jobs and the economy (THE DAILY). The league has issued 1,500 credentials for NFL staff and vendors in Green Bay. That includes "about 250 NFL staff, NFL Network, NFL Films and production people working the event" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 9/8).
The L.A. TIMES' Bill Dwyre writes, “This year, opening in Green Bay works on so many levels. … The Saints versus the Packers is perfect. The win-one-for-Katrina-victims is still a good story line. So is the back-to-the-basics of city and football in Green Bay” (L.A. TIMES, 9/8).
NBC’s “Today” show dedicated several segments to the start of the NFL season, including an opening entitled “Calling all Cheeseheads” featuring host Matt Lauer live from Lambeau Field. Lauer: “If you are a football fan, this is a shrine. This is the cathedral in Title Town.” Al Roker was also at Lambeau, in the stands with Packers fans. Roker: “Some of those people lining up at 8 o’clock last night.” Lauer: “You talk about tough tickets – this stadium holds about 73,000, but there are 89,000 people on the waiting list for tickets. As a matter of fact, around here, when people have a baby, the first call they make is not to their relatives – it’s to the Packers to get that baby on the waiting list for season tickets” (“Today,” NBC, 9/8).
USA Today is running an 14-page NFL Kickoff preview section that features advertising from league sponsors Bud Light, Verizon, Pepsi Max, Snickers and Visa (THE DAILY).
Read more about the start of the season in THE DAILY's NFL preview section.
