Who Plays Sunday Night NFL Football?
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Who Plays Sunday Night NFL Football?
The Sunday Night NFL Football game is one of the most anticipated matchups of the week.
Find out who is playing this week and don’t miss a single down of the action.
Introduction
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world. The NFL’s 17-week regular season runs from early September to late December, with each team playing 16 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference (four division winners and two wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held on the first Sunday in February and is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC.
The Sunday Night Football game on NBC is broadcast throughout Canada on TSN2.
History of Sunday Night Football
Sundays have long been considered the day of worship in America. But in 2006, the NFL changed that when it decided to move its most popular game of the week to Sunday nights. NBC was the lucky network to score the rights to broadcast Sunday Night Football, and the game has been a ratings juggernaut ever since. But this wasn’t the first time the NFL had games on Sunday nights.
How Sunday Night Football Began
The concept for Sunday Night Football began in the 1960s, when NBC executive Dick Ebersol and ABC Sports president Roone Arledge both had the idea to televise a nationally-broadcast NFL game on Sunday evenings. (Ebersol would later become the president of NBC Sports.) The two networks eventually reached an agreement: ABC would televise games in even-numbered weeks, while NBC would do so in odd-numbered weeks.
In 1987, NBC made a fateful decision that would change the course of Sunday Night Football forever: they acquired the rights to televise NFL games in primetime on a regular basis. This was a significant coup for the network, as it had been beaten out by CBS for the broadcast rights to Monday Night Football just two years earlier. (At the time, Monday Night Football was by far the most popular sports program on television.)
The first Sunday Night Football game was played on September 7, 1987, between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. It was an instant success, drawing in a massive television audience of nearly 30 million viewers. In the years that followed, Sunday Night Football quickly established itself as must-see TV for football fans across America.
Today, Sunday Night Football is broadcast on NBC and is one of the highest-rated programs on television. It has featured some of the most unforgettable moments in NFL history, and its popularity shows no signs of waning anytime soon.
The First Sunday Night Football Game
The first official Sunday Night Football game took place on September 7, 1986, between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. NBC won the rights to broadcast the game after offering the NFL $20 million, which was twice the amount that ABC had bid.
The game was a ratings success, with 36.6 million viewers tuning in to watch. Sunday Night Football has been a ratings juggernaut ever since, averaging over 20 million viewers per season.
Current Sunday Night Football Schedule
The Sunday Night Football schedule for the 2019 season is set. The NFL season starts on Thursday, September 5th with the Green Bay Packers at the Chicago Bears. Who will be playing on Sunday Night Football this season?
The 2018 Sunday Night Football Schedule
The 2018 Sunday Night Football Schedule is set. Below is the full schedule, including the teams, dates, times, and locations for each game.
Week 1: Sunday, September 9th – Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 2: Sunday, September 16th – New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 3: Sunday, September 23rd – Baltimore Ravens vs. Denver Broncos (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 4: Sunday, September 30th – Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 5: Sunday, October 7th – New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 6: Sunday, October 14th – Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 7: Sunday, October 21st – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Carolina Panthers (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 8: Sunday, October 28th – Los Angeles Rams vs. Green Bay Packers (8:20pm ET on NBC)
Week 9: Sunday, November 4th – Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens (8:20pm ET on NBC)
The 2019 Sunday Night Football Schedule
The 2019 Sunday Night Football Schedule kicked off on Thursday, September 5th with the Green Bay Packers vs. the Chicago Bears. The Sunday Night Football schedule features some of the NFL’s best match-ups and is broadcast on NBC.
The full 2019 Sunday Night Football Schedule is below:
Week 1: Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears
Week 2: New England Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins
Week 3: Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4: Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks
Week 5: Dallas Cowboys vs. New Orleans Saints
Week 6: Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans
Week 7: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys
Week 8: Minnesota Vikings vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Week 9: Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers
Week 10: Los Angeles Rams vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 11: Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams (11/17)
Conclusion
The Sunday Night Football game for Week 11 of the 2019 NFL season features a matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. The Packers are currently in first place in the NFC North with a record of 9-2, while the Vikings are in second place with an 8-3 record.
