The NFL has announced its preseason schedule for August and early September and there are a few quirks this year as compared to other preseasons. Due to the Olympics, the NFL is backloading its national television schedule. CBS, Fox and NBC will air their games over a four-day span between August 25 and 28.
As all of the NFL’s TV partners air two preseason games each, the broadcast networks will take care of their commitments during that time frame. As for ESPN, it will have its two games aired early in the preseason with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, OH on August 7 and the Rams’ first game in Los Angeles against Dallas on August 13.
The Hall of Fame Game normally is broadcast by NBC, but with the Peacock committing its resources to the Rio Olympics from August 5 through 21, ESPN takes over this year.
As for the rest of the national television preseason schedule, it looks like this:
| DATE | GAME | NETWORK (TIME ET) |
| Sunday, August 7 | NFL/Hall of Fame Game, Canton, OH: Green Bay vs. Indianapolis | ESPN (8:00 PM) |
Preseason Week 1 (August 11-15) |
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| Saturday, August 13 | Dallas at Los Angeles | ESPN (8:00 PM) |
Preseason Week 3 (August 25-28) |
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| Thursday, August 25 | Atlanta at Miami | NBC (8:00 PM) |
| Friday, August 26 | Cleveland at Tampa Bay | CBS (8:00 PM) |
| Saturday, August 27 | Tennessee at Oakland | CBS (8:00 PM) |
| Sunday, August 28 | San Diego at Minnesota | FOX (1:00 PM) |
| Sunday, August 28 | Arizona at Houston | FOX (4:00 PM) |
| Sunday, August 28 | Cincinnati at Jacksonville | NBC (8:00 PM) |
Notice that NBC’s game on August 25 is a nod to the network’s airing of Thursday Night Football beginning this year. CBS gets games on consecutive nights like it has in past preseasons. And Fox has a Sunday afternoon doubleheader. It has previously aired Sunday afternoon preseason games. NBC ends the preseason smorgasbord with a game in its traditional Sunday night timeslot.
If you need a preseason fix during the Olympics, NFL Network will have games both live and on tape delay. It will release its schedule at a later date.
So if you like watching preseason football, you’ll have opportunities to watch early on ESPN or late on CBS, Fox and NBC.
[NFL]
