CBS sending its A Team to Cleveland for Browns opener

The Cleveland Browns will open the 2019 NFL regular season on September 8 when they host the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium.

That Sunday will mark the official start of the most-hyped season for the Browns in 30 years, and CBS has boarded the hype train with today’s announcement that their No. 1 broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be in the booth that day to call the game.

It will be the second consecutive regular season Browns game that Nantz had Romo have called as the duo was in Baltimore for last season’s Week 17 meeting between the Browns and the Ravens.

The game is currently scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, but with their top broadcasting duo on the job, CBS could be pondering trying to move the game to the late-afternoon window. Currently there are two games at 4:05 p.m. on CBS in Week 1 - Cincinnati at Seattle (which no one wants to see) and Indianapolis at the Los Angeles Chargers, a game that could lose a little bit of luster if Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is not healthy enough to play.

The national game on Fox that afternoon is the New York Giants at Dallas at 4:25 p.m., another boring matchup given the current state of the Giants, but one that will gain plenty of viewers nonetheless. CBS may not be interested in having the Browns game go up against the Giants-Cowboys, so that 1 p.m. kickoff in Cleveland looks pretty solid.

The Week 1 one game will not be the only time the national spotlight shines on Cleveland, as the Browns will be on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets on September 16 and the San Francisco 49ers on October 7, Sunday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams on September 22, and Thursday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 14.