FOX Sports begins its 23rd season as a Sunday afternoon broadcast television home of the National Football League today by announcing its 2016 regular-season schedule. The season culminates beneath falling confetti at Houston’s NRG Stadium following FOX Sports’ presentation of Super Bowl LI, the seventh NFL championship to be determined on FOX over the last 20 years.
The 2016 FOX NFL season follows a 2015 campaign that marked the network’s second most-watched season since it began broadcasting games in 1994, averaging a 12.0/25 household rating/share, with 20.745 million viewers across all games. AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK averaged an impressive 15.4/29, with 26.8 million viewers, continuing its run as the highest-rated and most-watched show in all of television for the sixth consecutive year, according to Nielsen. FOX NFL SUNDAY also continued to reign supreme in 2015, ranking No. 1 among all NFL pregame shows for the 22nd consecutive year, posting a 3.5/9 household rating/share, with 5.3 million viewers, matching its highest rating since 2004 (3.5 in 2010).
Presenting a schedule that includes 102 games, FOX NFL’s coverage is led by nine editions of AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK, national doubleheader broadcasts. This season, AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK debuts in Week 1 on Sunday, Sept.11, highlighted by an NFC East showdown in which the New York Giants travel to AT&T Stadium to face the division-rival Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 PM ET.
Additional AGOTW matchups include Dallas at San Francisco (Week 4); Dallas at Green Bay (Week 6); Arizona at Carolina (Week 8); Dallas at Pittsburgh (Week 10); the New York Giants at Pittsburgh (Week 13); Seattle at Green Bay (Week 14); and Arizona at Seattle (Week 16).
In Week 8, the Cincinnati Bengals face the Washington Redskins at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 9:30 AM ET, as FOX Sports once again televises the NFL’s United Kingdom International Series, beginning early in the morning as part of a special tripleheader that concludes with AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK featuring a 2015 NFC Championship Game rematch between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers at 4:25 PM ET.
In late November, there will be no love lost during the traditional FOX NFL Thanksgiving Day game as a fierce NFC East divisional clash between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, Thursday, Nov. 24 at 4:30 PM ET.
The FOX NFL schedule includes 12 appearances by quarterback Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals, and nine appearances each by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Cam Newton and the defending NFC Champion Carolina Panthers, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman and the always entertaining Seattle Seahawks, and Eli Manning, the electrifying Odell Beckham Jr. and the New York Giants. Additionally, the newly-relocated Los Angeles Rams make 12 appearances on FOX this season.
Once playoff teams are determined, FOX Sports presents live postseason coverage that includes an NFC Wild Card Game, the NFC Divisional Playoffs, the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LI, the network’s seventh delivery of the NFL’s title game.
Each week, coverage begins with FOX NFL KICKOFF (11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET/8:00 AM – 9:00 AM PT), leading into the award-winning FOX NFL SUNDAY (12:00-1:00 PM ET/9:00-10:00 AM PT), America’s most-watched pregame show for 22 straight seasons. Terry Bradshaw and Curt Menefee return as co-hosts alongside analysts Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan. Bradshaw, Menefee, Long, Johnson and Strahan are joined by NFL insider Jay Glazer and NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira. Since its premiere in September 1994, FOX NFL SUNDAY has won 20 Emmy Awards for its production and personalities, including four for Outstanding Studio Show.
The 2016 FOX NFL season begins with a preseason doubleheader, Sunday, Aug.28, highlighted by the first-ever game to be played at the Minnesota Vikings’ brand new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Vikings host the San Diego Chargers at 1:00 PM ET on FOX. The back-end of the doubleheader pits the Arizona Cardinals against two-time defending NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt, new quarterback Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans at 4:00 PM ET.
SOURCE: FOX Sports Release
