NFL reschedules 2012 regular season to avoid US President Barack Obama’s speech-NFL News
The National Football League (NFL) has rescheduled the start of its regular season this year (2012) to Wednesday, September 05, 2012, instead of Thursday that traditionally has been the day for beginning of the season.
NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, has confirmed the move, which he said, was taken to avoid confrontation with the US President, Barack Obama’s speech, due on Thursday, the day the season was to kick off.
Obama is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention on September 06, and the league in the bid to avoid it has gone for reshuffling of the game.
This will be for the first time since 1948 that the league office will host a professional league game on Wednesday. Last time, it was Rams vs Lions on Wednesday, September 22, 1948.
The regular season, otherwise, starts on first Thursday of September each year. It stretches over 17 weeks and 16 games and finishes on the first week of January next year.
Usually the team who are Super Bowl champions play as hosts to another team to mark the beginning and this year is turn of the reigning NFL title winners, the New York Giants.
The visiting team has not been not been named yet, as the league office is still working on the schedule. Rest of the timetable is expected to remain same.
Another possibility around the start of regular season earlier than the routine schedule had come on the horizon of the American professional football as a result of speculations that the league office was planning to expand the number games in the regular
season from the current figure of 16.
Goodell confirmed the credibility of the reports and said that such a plan was on their mind, but denied it could be possible in the near future, for next two years at least.
In case the number of regular season games is extended to 18, it is more likely for the regular season to start well before the stipulated month of September.
The league office while hinting at the possibility said that it would require feedback and contribution from players and particularly from the players union, NFL Players Association(NFLPA), to make that happen.
NFLPA is yet to comment on the matter and amid apparent lack of interest from other quarters the possibility of the expansion remains in talks only.
Commissioner had earlier denied the likelihood of expansion in the number of the franchise, which some sections of media had projected to increase to 34, from 32, which are on the league at the moment.
He said one of his remarks pertaining to the talk around the probability was misquoted and of presented in a different context.
At the same time, NFL boss did not elaborate whether it could become a part of their offseason discussions.
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