The National Football League decided to extend the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' season, albeit for just a few hours.
The regular season finale between the Bucs and New Orleans Saints from Raymond James Stadium on New Years' Eve has been flexed from a 1:00 to a 4:25 kickoff by the league.
“We felt that both from a competitive standpoint and from a fan perspective, the most fair thing to do is to schedule all Week 17 games in either the 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET windows,” said NFL Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Howard Katz. “This ensures that we do not have a matchup on Sunday Night Football on New Year’s Eve that because of earlier results has no playoff implications for one or both of the competing teams.”
New Orleans can win the NFC South division title with a victory or a loss by the Panthers, whose game in Atlanta against the Falcons was also flexed to a 4:25 kickoff.
Pregame coverage on WDAE will begin Sunday at 2:00 with Countdown to Kickoff, while the game will be heard on sister station 98 ROCK.