Latest / Ground Signal FM / Ground Signal Deep Dive: Sports — September 8, 2026

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Ground Signal Deep Dive: Sports — September 8, 2026 · Ground Signal FM

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  Today on Ground Signal Sports, the NFL kicks
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  off week one in Melbourne, Australia. Yes, Melbourne.
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  As the 49ers and Rams open the season at the
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  cricket ground on Thursday. On Sunday, the big
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  slate includes Bills Texans, Cowboys Giants,
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  and a loaded NFC East showdown in Philadelphia.
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  Monday Night Football brings Mahomes back to
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  Arrowhead. The Champions League Match Day 1 is
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  underway right now, and the Copa Libertadores
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  quarterfinals begin this week. In the forward
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  signal. three matchups you cannot miss in the
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  next 72 hours. Let's get into it. Three developments
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  defining this sports week. First, the NFL regular
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  season begins Thursday night in Australia, and
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  it's genuinely historic. The San Francisco 49ers
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  host the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket
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  Ground, the first NFL regular season game ever
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  played in Melbourne. The game streams on Netflix
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  at 5 .35 p .m. Pacific. making it the middle
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  of the night or early morning for most of North
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  America. That's not a bug. It's the league's
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  global strategy playing out in real time. This
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  is the NFL saying it has a global audience worth
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  scheduling around. Second, the 2026 -27 Champions
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  League League phase opened today. Match Day 1
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  runs through Thursday, September 10th. Real Madrid
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  and Inter Milan kicked off the new campaign tonight,
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  and PSG, Manchester City, and Arsenal are all
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  on the Match Day 1 slate. This is the biggest
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  club competition in football, resuming after
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  a summer break. And the league phase format means
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  every game has points implications from the first
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  whistle. Third, the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals
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  begin this week. First legs are spread across
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  September 8 through 10, with second legs to follow
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  September 15 through 17. The four ties are Flamengo
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  against Independiente del Valle, Palmeiras against
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  Liga de Quito, Fluminense against Platens, and
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  Estudiantes against Corinthians. The final is
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  scheduled for November 28 in Montevideo. This
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  is South American club football at its highest
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  stakes, and any of these four ties could produce
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  the kind of drama that defines a continent's
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  season. The 2026 NFL season is officially here,
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  and it opens with something no one has seen before.
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  The 49ers and Rams play Thursday at the Melbourne
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  Cricket Ground. This is the NFL's first game
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  in Australia, and it lands in a stadium that
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  holds over 100 ,000 people. San Francisco enters
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  the season with injury questions the Rams' own
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  preview flagged. Their pass rush, led by Nick
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  Bosa, Fred Warner, and Dre Greenlaw, will be
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  tested depending on who's available. The Rams,
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  meanwhile, are coming off what NFL .com described
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  as the league's best offense in 2025. Matthew
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  Stafford had an MVP caliber season and has a
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  full arsenal around him. This is a proper rivalry
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  opener on a global stage. The game streams on
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  Netflix, which is now embedded in the NFL's broadcast
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  landscape. Sunday brings the full slate and a
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  few games jump off the schedule immediately.
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  Bills at Texans is the AFC marquee matchup of
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  the opening weekend. Both teams enter with legitimate
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  playoff pedigree and offseason upgrades. This
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  is a measuring stick game early. Commanders at
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  Eagles is your NFC East statement game. Philadelphia
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  at home in week one with divisional implications
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  from the first snap. The Eagles have been building
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  toward a title window for three years. Washington
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  is not here to lose quietly. Cowboys at Giants
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  gives you the other NFC East rivalry in primetime.
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  Sunday night football, 8 -20 Eastern, both teams
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  in the same division, both needing to establish
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  early momentum. And then Monday night football
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  delivers the headliner. Broncos at Chiefs, September
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  14th. Patrick Mahomes enters week one with his
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  knee fully cleared, according to NFL .com reporting
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  from September 2nd. He told reporters his knee
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  feels great and said he forgets about it sometimes.
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  Bo Nix, Denver's quarterback, was working through
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  his own ankle situation but was expected back.
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  Chiefs at home, Monday night football, Mahomes
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  healthy. That's the week one narrative. Training
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  camp is three weeks out, officially opening September
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  29th. but the NBA landscape has been moving all
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  offseason. The Ja Morant era in Memphis is over.
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  Portland's Trailblazers acquired the former All
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  -Star in a trade per NBA .com's offseason tracker,
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  giving Morant a new chapter in the Pacific Northwest.
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  In Utah, the Jazz traded Cody Williams and Jonathan
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  Conchard of Minnesota for Josh Green, adding
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  a versatile wing to a team still very much in
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  rebuild mode. Minnesota signed Jonathan Kuminga
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  on a multi -year deal. Houston extended Amen
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  Thompson on September 3rd. The broader picture.
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  Several contending teams have retooled, the East
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  and West hierarchies are genuinely unsettled,
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  and training camps will tell the first real story
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  of who built something this summer. Three weeks
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  to go. The anticipation is real. The Champions
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  League Matchday 1 slate is underway as this episode
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  drops, with games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and
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  Thursday of this week. The marquee fixture on
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  Tuesday is Real Madrid against Inter Milan at
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  the Bernabeu, with kickoff at 9 p .m. Central
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  European summertime. Real Madrid's official site
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  confirmed the fixture, and this is exactly the
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  kind of heavyweight matchday one game the new
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  expanded league phase was designed to deliver.
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  Inter finished among Europe's elite last season.
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  Real Madrid are, as always, Real Madrid. Tonight
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  matters. PSG face Sloven Bratislava on Wednesday.
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  Manchester City take on Porto, also Wednesday.
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  Arsenal are in the matchday one slate as well,
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  per UEFA's confirmed fixture list. With eight
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  matchday one games across three days, this week
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  alone sets the tone for the entire league phase
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  that runs through January. Copa Libertadores,
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  meanwhile, brings the South American counterpart.
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  Flamengo against Independiente del Valle is the
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  tie with the most global attention, Brazil's
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  most popular club against Ecuador's champions.
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  Palmeiras take on Liga do Quito in a cross -border
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  battle. And the Brazilian derby dynamic plays
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  out again when Fluminense host Platins and Estudiantes
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  face Corinthians. The first legs all land this
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  week. Second legs arrive September 15 through
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  17. Formula One enters a quiet moment between
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  race weekends, but the championship picture is
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  sharp. After Andrea Kimi Antonelli's stunning
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  Monza victory from 19th on the grid, which Ground
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  Signal flagged as a Signal 3 development a week
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  ago, the standings entering the Baku weekend
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  show Antonelli leading the championship. George
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  Russell sits second. Lando Norris holds fourth.
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  Max Verstappen is also in the standings with
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  the gap to the leader widening. Baku is September
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  24 through 26, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. F1
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  confirmed the race was moved to Saturday, September
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  26, to accommodate Azerbaijan's national day.
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  The Baku Street Circuit is one of the most unpredictable
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  stops on the calendar. Long straights, tight
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  corners, walls everywhere. It produces chaos
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  even in calm championship years. With Antonelli
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  stretching a lead and Norris hunting a title
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  push he's been building all season, Baku is a
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  venue where the standings can swing dramatically
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  in either direction. Market now? The U .S. Open
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  has reached the quarterfinal stage, and the draw
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  at Flushing Meadows is as compelling as any Grand
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  Slam in recent memory. On the women's side, Irina
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  Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Zhang Qinwen, and Jessica
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  Pegula are all in the quarterfinal field, according
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  to the official U .S. Open results. The women's
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  semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, September
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  10th. The women's final follows on Saturday,
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  September 12th. This is Sabalenka's tournament
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  to lose. She's been the most dominant player
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  of this era on hard courts. Golf on home soil
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  has a crowd that can carry her. Jen Kinwin is
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  a legitimate threat who doesn't rattle easily.
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  On the men's side, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander
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  Zverev, Francis Tiafoe, and Karen Kachanov advance
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  to the quarterfinals. The men's semifinals land
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  Friday, September 11th, with the men's final
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  on Sunday, September 13th. Alcaraz is the defending
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  champion. Zverev is the most complete all -around
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  player who has never won a major and knows it.
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  Tiafoe at home is an event in itself. This finish
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  is going to be loud. Three matchups to lock into
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  your calendar. First, 49 airs at Rams, Melbourne
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  Cricket Ground, Thursday, September 10th. 5 .35
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  p .m. Pacific. This is the historic NFL opener
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  in Australia streaming on Netflix. For the globally
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  mobile listener, this is a game you can watch
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  from almost anywhere with a connection. The story
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  is bigger than the scoreboard, but the scoreboard
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  matters too. A Rams blowout validates their offense
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  first identity. A 49ers win proves depth over
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  star power. Second, Real Madrid versus Inter
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  Milan, Bernabeu, Tuesday, September 8th, 9 p
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  .m. CEST. Champions League match day one. Two
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  European heavyweights opening their league phase
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  campaigns. Real Madrid at home in the first game
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  of a new UCL season is exactly as high stakes
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  as it sounds. Inter have the defensive structure
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  to make this difficult. Whoever controls the
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  midfield controls the game. Third, Broncos at
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  Chiefs, Arrowhead Stadium, Monday, September
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  14th, 8 .15 p .m. Eastern on ESPN. Mahomes is
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  healthy. The stage is set. This is the most watched
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  game of week one and will tell you whether Kansas
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  City's dynasty is intact or whether Denver under
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  Bo Nix has genuinely closed the gap. One game,
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  one answer, primetime. That's your forward signal.
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  Stay tuned to Ground Signal. More dispatches
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  ahead.