NFL on NBC

NFL on NBC is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network in the United States. The name was used until 1998, when the network lost the television rights to the American Football Conference (AFC) to CBS. NFL coverage returned to NBC on August 6, 2006, under the title NBC Sunday Night Football, beginning with its coverage of the preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. NBC also packages a limited number of Thursday night games each year. Since NBC acquired the Sunday Night Football package from ESPN, game coverage is usually preceded by the pre-game show Football Night in America.

History

Beginnings through the 1950s

NBC's coverage of the National Football League (which has aired under numerous program titles and formats) actually goes back to the beginnings of the network's relationship with the league in 1939, when its New York City flagship station, then known as W2XBS (now WNBC) aired the first televised professional football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the now-defunct Brooklyn Dodgers football team.