Following is the Tentative NFL Schedule:
NFL Kickoff Game: The entire 2012 season tentatively will begin on Thursday, September 6, 2012, at the home of the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion. September 6 is also the last day of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and the league has yet to announce if they will repeat what they did four years earlier when they moved the Kickoff Game earlier to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time to accommodate the last day of the 2008 Republican Convention.
International Series: Beginning in the 2012 season, there will be two games played as part of the International Series at least one of which is expected to be played at the series' de factopermanent home, Wembley Stadium in London, England. The location of the second game has not been announced, although contenders include locations in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Based on previous seasons, the game or games will likely occur on either October 21 or October 28. Teams, as in previous years, are expected to be announced in February.
Thanksgiving Classic: These games will occur on Thursday, November 22, 2012. The Detroit Lions will host an AFC team—either the Houston Texans or Indianapolis Colts—at 12:30 p.m. EST, while the Dallas Cowboys will host an NFC team, which is yet to be determined (the possibilities are the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Chicago Bears, at 4:15 p.m. EST. The prime-time NBC game, featuring opponents yet to be announced, will be featured at 8:20 p.m. EST.
Bills Toronto Series. The fifth and, under current contract, final regular-season game of the series, which sees the Buffalo Bills play in Toronto's Rogers Centre, is still being planned. Due to a re-emergence of late-season attendance problems at Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Toronto Series is likely to return to its original December schedule, after the end of the 2012 CFL season. A preseason game will also be played as part of the series.
Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve falls on a Monday in 2012. In recent years, the league schedules a prime-time NFL Network game on the Saturday of Weeks 15 and 16 late in the season. The NFL tries to avoid scheduling games on the evening of Christmas Eve; however, in 2007, a Monday Night Christmas Eve game between two western division teams was played at 8:00 p.m. EST (5:00 p.m. PST). The league may also choose to have an afternoon game on Christmas Eve, as it did in 2004, when Christmas Eve fell on a Friday, although this will be dictated by the terms of the most recent contract extension agreed to in December 2011.
The last regular season games would be held on Sunday, December 30. The playoffs would then start on
Saturday, January 5, 2013. Super Bowl XLVII, the league's championship game, will occur on February 3,
2013, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The league announced that it will consider trying to avoid scheduling Thursday Night games in which the
visiting team has to travel two or more time zones.The opponents for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
will be announced sometime in February, while the entire regular season schedule will be announced in April.
Source:wikipedia
