NFL Pushes Late Doubleheader Games Back 10 Minutes

The NFL is making a small change to its Sunday doubleheader format, pushing the late game back by 10 minutes.

The new 4:25 p.m. start time hopes to reduce to overlap from the early games, which start at 1 p.m. ET. All games that were scheduled to begin at 4:05 p.m. ET remain unchanged, as those are not part of any doubleheader. Approximately 40 games over the full 2012 season will be impacted by the new start time.

NBC's Football Night in America, which begins at 7 p.m. ET, will not alter its start time to counteract the increased overlap expected with the new start times.

The league analyzed games from the 2009-11 seasons and found that 44 of those games required part of the audience to be switched to a mandatory doubleheader game kickoff.