Road to the Super Bowl to kick off with free concert in Jacksonville
(July 20, 2004) -- The NFL will begin to bridge the start of the 2004 season with Super Bowl XXXIX with a free concert by a nationally known performer Thursday, Sept. 9, at Jacksonville's Metropolitan Park.
The free concert, sponsored by Coors and other NFL partners, is being staged by the NFL, the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee and the City of Jacksonville. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m. with music and festivities running through 9 p.m. The name of the musical acts, including local bands, will announced at a later date.
Portions of the free event will be televised live nationally as part of "NFL Opening Kickoff," from 8 - 9 p.m. (ET) on ABC.
The one-hour special, which will celebrate the new season in several ways, will lead into the season opener between the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game (ABC, 9 p.m. ET).
The show, which also will air at Metropolitan Park, will pay tribute to the Super Bowl champions, preview the 2004 season and include musical elements from both Jacksonville and Gillette Stadium.
The free concert is part of a new NFL tradition of holding the season-opening event at the home of the Super Bowl champion and linking it to the site of the next Super Bowl. The Super Bowl theme of "Building Bridges," which salutes Jacksonville and its seven bridges across the St. John's River and plays off the NFL's ability to unite people and bring communities together, will run from the Kickoff event through the Feb. 6, 2005 game.
The NFL said it would no longer have the Kickoff Concert it used to have. (DC was the last one to hold such an historic event
!!)The whole Janet Jackson incident led to their rethinking of their live concerts.
This new tradition sounds a little quirky, but I think it'll be fun. Too bad, Washington will never host one of these Season Opening events again.
Thanks a lot, Janet & Justin.