NBC Sports Group Opens 2017 NFL Season with NFL Kickoff and Sunday Night Football
By: TV News Desk Aug. 31, 2017
In a season that will see NBC broadcast SUPER BOWL LII on Sunday, February 4, 2018 - just four days before NBCUniversal begins its comprehensive coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games of PyeongChang, South Korea - NBC, home to primetime television's top two shows in SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL and Thursday Night Football, will present a combined 28 regular season and postseason games - the most ever by an NFL broadcast primetime TV partner.
NBC Sports kicks off its season-long coverage with NFL Kickoff 2017 one week from today - Thursday, September 7 - when Tom Brady and the defending SUPER BOWL champion New England Patriots host Alex Smith and the AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs in the 200th regular-season game of the NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL package. In the Sept. 10 opener of SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - America's No. 1 primetime television show for a record six consecutive years - 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year Dak Prescott and the NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys host two-time SUPER BOWL MVP Eli Manning and the New York Giants.SNF ON TWITTER: Using tweets, photos, 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 sixth 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. In addition, SNF on Instagram will utilize Instagram stories to maximize fans' exposure to the SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL footprint.
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 Bus. 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.
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL BUS RETURNS FOR 2017 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, SUPER BOWL LII in Minneapolis, Minn., in February. Fans will get a closer look at 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, a replica of the FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA desk, life-size "Photo Bomb" wall, 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 2017 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; Safety Blitz with Rodney Harrison and Dan Schwartzman; featuring three-time All Pro and two-time Super Bowl-winner Rodney Harrison and Dan Schwartzman; Going Deep with Amani and Dan, featuring former Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer; NFL Insider Michele Tafoya; and Schwartzman. 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 2017 NFL season with in-depth news, analysis and original programming on the teams that matter most in more than 40 million U.S. households. CARRIE UNDERWOOD Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum superstar artist, Carrie Underwood, will perform "Oh, Sunday Night," the opening theme for primetime television's No. 1 program, NBC's Sunday Night Football. 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. Oh, Sunday Night" is set to the music of "Somethin' Bad," a chart-topping duet from Underwood and Miranda Lambert which was released in 2014 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Underwood worked with the songwriters of "Somethin' Bad"- Chris DeStefano, Brett James, and Priscilla Renea - to rewrite the lyrics for Sunday Night Football. The result, "Oh, Sunday Night," was produced by Mark Bright and Chris DeStefano. This NFL season marks the fifth for Underwood as the star of NBC's SNF show open. Ten NFL players, who have accounted for 30 PRO BOWL selections, four SUPER BOWL rings, and six first-round draft picks (five in the top 10) will participated in the open with Underwood. Players include Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown, Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr, New England Patriots LB Dont'a Hightower, Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones, Oakland Raiders LB Khalil Mack, Denver Broncos LB Von Miller, Arizona Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson, New York Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul, and Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. 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 over 100 major honors, sold 64 million records worldwide, and recorded 26 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote, with a catalog of songs that have been streamed more than 2.6 billion times worldwide. The Grand Ole Opry member demonstrated her creative diversity in 2013 starring 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. The reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood claimed her fourth win in the category amid the ongoing success of her chart-topping platinum fifth studio album, Storyteller, which produced four #1 hits. This November, Underwood will co-host the CMA Awards for a tenth consecutive year. SNF IS NO. 1 PRIMETIME PROGRAM ON TELEVISION, WITH NBC/NFLN TNF RANKING NO. 2 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL finished the 2016-17 TV season as primetime's #1 TV show in all key metrics for a record sixth consecutive year - tying AMERICAN IDOL for the most consecutive years atop the charts (since 1950), based on live plus same day data provided by The Nielsen Company. NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL also ranked as the No. 1 show in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic for the seventh consecutive TV season. SNF's six-year run at the top marks the only six times on record that a sports series has been the highest-rated and most-watched show of the primetime TV season In addition, NBC/NFL Network Thursday Night Football ranks as primetime TV's No. 2 show in average viewers and household rating, and No. 3 among Adults 18-49.
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