New England Patriots

NFL planning big pregame before Patriots-Steelers season opener

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:58 p.m. ET

Alex Marvez

From a promotional standpoint, the NFL's regular-season opener between Pittsburgh and New England truly will be a coast-to-coast affair.

A source told FOX Sports on Tuesday that pregame events are set for both the New England and San Francisco Bay area leading into the Sept. 10 Steelers-Patriots matchup. That includes the NFL's annual pregame concert taking place in Northern California rather than in the Boston/Foxboro region.

Portions of that concert will air on NBC's pregame show. The league has yet to announce its musical act.

The NFL usually holds all of its pregame events in the city or region hosting the Week 1 opener, which is traditionally given to the defending Super Bowl champion. The league, though, wants to use the excitement surrounding the start of the 2015 season as a tie-in promoting Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif., and the year-long promotion of the title game's history.

The NFL has used multiple cities before as part of its opening-game promotion. To hype Super Bowl 40 in 2005 before the Raiders-Patriots opener at Gillette Stadium, the league held events in the Boston/Foxboro area as well as Los Angeles (home of Super Bowl I) and aired highlights of a Rolling Stones concert taped in Detroit during the pregame show.