Meek Mill & Meghan Trainor Concert To Be Part Of NBC, NFL Network Season Kickoff Coverage

Patrick Hipes

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Meek Mill, Meghan Trainor and Rapsody will perform live Thursday during the NFL’s official 2019 NFL Kickoff event in Chicago ahead of the league’s season-opening Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears game at Soldier Field on NBC.

Portions of Meek Mill’s and Trainor’s performances will be part of NBC and the NFL Network’s simulcast coverage of the 40-minute pregame event, which will take place at Chicago’s Grant Park. The game is set to kick off at 8:20 PM ET/5:20 PM PT, with headliner Meek Mill scheduled to hit the Main Stage at about 7:30 PM ET.

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After the concert, Grant Park will host a watch party of the game on giant screens.

Meek Mill, Trainor and Rapsody on Friday were also named “advocates” for the NFL and Jay-Z-led Roc Nation’s Inspire Change initiative. Part of that effort includes creating new music for a Songs of the Season fundraising campaign. It’s one of the first moves made since Jay-Z’s Roc Nation teamed with the league to oversee its entertainment partnerships.

Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya return to handle NBC’s coverage of the game, joined by referee Terry McAulay, Sunday Night Football‘s rules analyst. The network’s Football Night in America team — Mike Tirico, Liam McHugh, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Chris Simms, Mike Florio and Kathryn Tappen — will also be live from Chicago.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football’s first Sunday game of the new season is September 8, with Pittsburgh at New England. The next night, ESPN’s Monday Night Football season begins with a doubleheader: Houston at New Orleans followed by Denver at Oakland.

The league’s Thursday night schedule begins September 12 with the NFL Network handling the first two weeks. Fox and Amazon Prime begin simulcasting games with NFL Network in Week 4 (Philadelphia at Green Bay).

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