File this one under unexpected perks of winning the Super Bowl:
The 2014 Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks* will host free performances by Soundgarden and Pharrell Williams on Sept. 4 prior to their season-opening game against the Green Bay Packers.
The performances are part of the NFL Kickoff and will air on NBC and the NFL Network. Ariana Grande will sing the National Anthem at the game. The broadcast of the Soundgarden and Pharrell performances will air between 4:30 and 5:30 PT.
Below is the full press release from the NFL:
The NFL kicks off its 95th season with “2014 NFL Kickoff Presented by Xbox” — 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, September 4. Grammy Award-winning singer, song-writer and producer Pharrell Williams will perform live outside of CenturyLink Field in Seattle, it was announced Sunday night during NBC’s national broadcast of the annual NFL/Hall of Fame Game.
Simulcast coverage of the 60-minute pregame show from Seattle will air from 7:30-8:30 p.m. ET on NBC and NFL Network.
Television’s most-watched studio show, NBC’s Football Night in America, will be live on-site in Seattle with its full team — Bob Costas, Dan Patrick, Josh Elliott, Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, and two-time Super Bowl winner and Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward, along with NFL Insiders Mike Florio and Peter King.
The live pregame broadcast also will be available via NFL Mobile from Verizon.
Seattle-natives and Grammy Award-winning band Soundgarden will kick off the free event with a performance in front of their hometown fans with a portion of the performance broadcast live on NFL Network.
The show leads into the season opener between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field in Seattle (NBC, NBCSports.com, Westwood One Radio Sports, 8:30 p.m. ET). Award-winning singer and actress Ariana Grande will sing the National Anthem.
The musical performances are part of the celebration to kick off the 2014 season and to honor theSuper Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. This is the 13th consecutive Kickoff celebration to start the season and the 10th time the NFL has saluted the Super Bowl champions with the opening game in their stadium on a Thursday in primetime.
2014 NFL Kickoff will be executive produced by Ricky Kirshner, the Executive Producer of the Super Bowl pregame and halftime shows, and directed by Gregg Gelfand.
In addition to presenting sponsor Xbox, top-tier sponsors for the NFL’s Kickoff platform include Bud Light, Bridgestone, GMC, Lenovo, Snickers, Pepsi, Verizon and Visa.
* Saying, or typing, “Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks” never gets old
