Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi provided more drama ahead of Sunday’s NFL openers on Fox than Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw.
Sundays world cup final in Qatar between Argentina and France awarded overtime and penalty shootouts, scrapping Fox’s “NFL Sunday” pre-game show. The fútbol ended just in time for Americans to watch the football kick off at 1 p.m. EST.
Argentinian Gonzalo Montiel struck in the decisive penalty at 12:55 p.m. This gave Fox a few minutes to capture Argentina’s celebration and gave commentators pause before the network moved on to the NFL.
At the start of overtime, Fox said via social networks that the awards ceremony would be broadcast on FS1. A graphic on Fox immediately after the game ended also told viewers to switch to FS1.
If the game had ended in regulation, Fox’s plan was to air the trophy ceremony before switching to NFL pregame coverage at 12:30 p.m.
Some football fans were unhappy with the presentation of the trophy in the process of starting to a Fox sister channel.
The possibility of the World Cup colliding with NFL game kickoffs has prompted some fun exchanges on social networks.
Some NFL teams have caught a bit of World Cup fever. A die video cards at MetLife Stadium showed the shots on goal as the New York Jets and Detroit Lions took the field. The penalty shootout was also broadcast in Houston ahead of the Texans taking on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Viewers for Sunday’s final are set to be released on Sunday and are expected to be above Fox’s average of 12.51 million viewers for the 2018 final between France and Croatia.
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