Giants to Host Wednesday NFL Season-Opener to Avoid Obama’s Speech at DNC
The Super Bowl champion New York Giants will host the first game of the 2012 National Football League season on a Wednesday night to avoid conflicting with U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, the league said yesterday in a news release.
The NFL schedule usually starts on Thursday, when the president would be speaking. The last NFL game on a Wednesday was a September 1948 game between the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions, the league said.
The opponent for the Giants in the Sept. 5 game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, wasn’t disclosed. The Giants, who won the Super Bowl championship earlier this month, last hosted the season opener in 2008, after winning the previous season’s title game.
That game was moved 90 minutes earlier to avoid conflicting with John McCain’s speech at the Republican Party’s presidential convention.
The Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 in the Super Bowl in Indianapolis this month. They also beat the Patriots in the 2008 title game.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net
Giants Will Open NFL Season on Wednesday to Avoid Obama
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Screens celebrate the New York Giants' Super Bowl victory before a rally at MetLife Stadium on February 7, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Screens celebrate the New York Giants' Super Bowl victory before a rally at MetLife Stadium on February 7, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Photographer: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
U.S. President Barack Obama
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
U.S. President Barack Obama.
U.S. President Barack Obama. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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