NFL opener moved to Wednesday September 5th instead of Thursday

Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement Tuesday that the he NFL will kick off its season on Wednesday, Sept. 5 instead of the traditional Thursday night to avoid a conflict with a scheduled speech by President Barack Obama on Sept. 6 at the Democratic National Convention.

President Barack Obama’s speech will be held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, home of the Carolina Panthers.

The game will be hosted by the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET and will air on NBC.

The Giants’ opponent for the opener hasn’t been determined yet, but the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints have been rumored to be top candidates.

A match-up between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers would be a re-match of the NFC Divisional contest between the two, a game which the Giants defeated the Packers at Lambeau Field 37-20. The Packers however managed to defeat the Giants, at MetLife Stadium in week 13 on a game-winning kick as time expired, winning 38-25.

Should the Packers and Giants face one another it would be a rematch of the past two Super Bowl Champions.

Last season the Green Bay Packers took on the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field, defeating the Saints 42-34.

President Obama’s speech took place an hour before the contest between the Packers and Saints, but fans missed the pre-game festivities. Should his speech of gone over the allotted one hour time, it would have been shown instead of the start of the NFL season opener.

This game was moved to avoid a conflict this year.

The 2012 NFL schedule will be revealed in the coming months.