Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

When did the NFL switch the Sunday kickoff times to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. until the advent of Sunday Night Football? I know a lot of Central Time Zone Teams would kick off home games at 2 p.m. EST. I think Baltimore was the one of the few EST teams that kickoff off at 2 p.m. I believe due to the Blue Law there. If any of this is inaccurate please correct!

Someone can provide more detail, but around the early '70s you started seeing early games begin at noon local time. That became the standard in the early '80s.

The game times for football games, both college and pro, became when the TV networks wanted them to be.

1980 is when they began to standardize 1pm Eastern/12pm Central for the early window, although there were still some 1 pm Central games, and the blue laws mandating 2pm Eastern Baltimore. The Central time exceptions ended in 1982, and Baltimore obviously in 1984.

Throughout the '70s, it was generally 1pm local time for the early window, but in the late window they were 4pm Eastern.

Thanks for your input, but I hate your play call!!

vikingsfan1963 wrote:Thanks for your input, but I hate your play call!!

HA!!
Thanks, I needed that!