The NFL announced yesterday that it would move its 2012 season opener in order to "avoid a conflict" with President Obama's Democratic National Convention acceptance speech planned for the same evening. 

The opener, originally scheduled for Thursday, September 6, will now be played on Wednesday, September 5, and "NFLHistory" tweeted that the last time the season opened on a Wednesday was in 1948.

According to the NFL: 

The Super Bowl XLVI-champion New York Giants will host the game at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be aired on NBC, with the NFL Kickoff 2012 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The Democratic National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, the week of September 3, and "on Thursday, September 6, the President will accept the nomination at Bank of America Stadium, where once again, the public will be invited to attend."

So NFL fans won't be torn between deciding what to watch--a season opener or another Obama speech, accepting a nomination for which he had no competition. Of course, that's assuming the network wouldn't have preempted the game for the speech, had they been held on the same night.

Recall last September's "Jobs Speech"--originally scheduled by Obama for the same night as the Republican primary debate in California?  The speech was delayed -- to the same night as the NFL 2011 season opener between the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers -- but Obama finished just in time for the kickoff.

According to Judy Kurtz at The Hill:  "If an American president knows one thing, it's this: don't mess with football." 

That was in 2011.

This year, it appears that football isn't going to mess with the President.