The and will be kicking off at 10:35 a.m. Australian time on Friday, but due to the time difference, that will be a Thursday night kickoff in the United States. The NFL still wanted to make sure the defending champs would officially play the first game of the season, so the league decided to move the Seahawks' game to Wednesday.
The NFL is going into its 107th season, and over that span, the league has only opened the season with a Wednesday game one other time. That came in 2012 when the NFL put on a regular basis.
"There's no question that we're going to be playing here again," Goodell said. "Our view is that we're coming here for the long term. We don't come as a one-off. This isn't a circus. This is something that's an investment in this market and we believe that this is long term and will be great for the NFL long term. "
Due to the time difference between Australia and the United States, there's good chance that we'll only see these games played in Week 1, and if that's the case, the NFL could end up sticking with the schedule they've set this year. That would mean putting the defending Super Bowl champ in a Wednesday night opener followed by a game in Australia on Thursday night.
Why there's no Friday game in Week 1 this year
For that past two seasons, the NFL scheduled a Friday game in Week 1, but that won't happen this year.Under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the NFL ). This is why you don't see any Saturday games on the
