NBC's Football Night in America Kicks Off at Gillette Stadium

The NFL kicks off both its 96th season and the season-long celebration of Super Bowl 50 with "2015 NFL KICKOFF PRESENTED BY HYUNDAI” – 7:30 PM ET Thursday, September 10, it was announced Sunday night during NBC’s national broadcast of the annual NFL/Hall of Fame Game. Festivities will take place in both New England, home of the Super Bowl XLIX champion Patriots, and the San Francisco Bay Area, host of Super Bowl 50. 

Celebrations will begin in San Francisco with a free concert featuring multi-platinum singer-songwriter ELLIE GOULDING and San Francisco’s own Grammy Award-winning band TRAIN live at Justin Herman Plaza across from the historic Ferry Building. The musical performances and activations in San Francisco are part of the year-long On The Fifty campaign dedicated to celebrating the Super Bowl and commemorating Super Bowl 50. Performances by Goulding and Train will be featured in simulcast coverage of a 60- minute pregame show from New England 7:30 – 8:30 PM ET on NBC and NFL Network. The live pregame broadcast also will be available via NFL Mobile from Verizon. 

The concert and pregame show lead into the season opener between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Patriots at Gillette Stadium (NBC, NBC Sports Live Extra on desktop and tablet, Westwood One Radio Sports, 8:30 PM ET). This is the 14th consecutive Kickoff celebration to start the season and the 11th time the NFL has saluted the Super Bowl champions with the opening game in their stadium on a Thursday in primetime. As part of the Kickoff events leading up to Super Bowl XL ten years ago, the NFL incorporated musical performances from Los Angeles (home to the first Super Bowl), Detroit (host of Super Bowl XL) and New England (which won Super Bowl XXXIX).

Television’s most-watched studio show, NBC’s Football Night in America, will be live onsite in New England. Fans nationwide will participate in Kickoff festivities leading up to the season's first games. For example, in Chicago the Bears will host the “2015 Super Bears Shuffle 5K” at Soldier Field, while Baltimore’s Inner Harbor will be home to the “Ravens Kickoff Party” at Power Plant Live. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers will host the “Gatorade-Steelers 5K” at Heinz Field benefiting the Art Rooney Scholarship Fund. These are just a few examples of the many ways teams and fans are getting back to football. 2015 NFL KICKOFF will be produced by RICKY KIRSHNER, the Executive Producer of the Super Bowl pregame and halftime shows, and directed by GREGG GELFAND. 

In addition to presenting sponsor Hyundai, top tier sponsors for the NFL’s Kickoff platform include Bridgestone, Bud Light, McDonalds, Microsoft, Pepsi, Snickers, Verizon and Visa. Media may visit nflmedia.com to apply for credentials to cover the “2015 NFL Kickoff” concert. The credential deadline is Friday, August 28. Media interested in covering the game may apply for credentials through the Patriots.