The Green Bay Packers will open the 2004 season at the NFC champion Carolina Panthers, September 13, on ABC's Monday night football, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.
Tagliabue also announced three other key games for the NFL's 2004 Kickoff Weekend, which begins with a Thursday night, September 9 primetime rematch of the AFC Championship Game - the Indianapolis Colts at the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on ABC at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Sunday, September 12, the FOX national doubleheader game at 4:15 p.m. ET will feature the Dallas Cowboys at the Minnesota Vikings. Dallas reached the playoffs last season as a Wild Card team, while Minnesota narrowly missed the playoffs when they were defeated on the final play of their season by Arizona.
The Sunday night primetime game (8:30 p.m. ET) on ESPN will be an AFC West Division matchup between two 2003 playoff teams, the Kansas City Chiefs at the Denver Broncos.
Also on Sunday, September 12, CBS, which has U.S. Open tennis in the late time slot, will carry a lineup of early regional NFL games. CBS will televise the NFL national doubleheader late game in Week 2.
The rest of the 2004 regular-season schedule will be announced at a later date, as yet undetermined.
Kickoff for the Packers-Panthers contest will be 8 p.m. CT.
