Super Bowl 2017 Media Day live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch online

Super Bowl 51’s Media Day — or Opening Night, as they extravagantly refer to it as — is available to the public. You’ll have to buy tickets, but if it’s anything like it was last year, it’s an event that requires attendance for football fans who will be in Houston.

Media Day once started as an earnest event for reporters to gather information from teams mired in pregame preparation. Now, it’s an opportunity for cosplayers and handpuppets (literally) to ask inane questions and record responses. Rhyme and reason exit the stage Monday, instead replaced by German men dressed as downhill skiers and septuagenarians dolled up as team-specific leprechauns.

So maybe don’t expect much real insight from Monday’s interviews with the players and coaches. But if you still want to catch the festivities, Opening Night will air on NFL Network at 8 p.m. ET, with a live stream available at NFL.com/Watch for subscribers to certain cable providers.

The matchup was settled on Sunday, with the Atlanta Falcons facing off against the New England Patriots. This is the Patriots’ record-setting ninth Super Bowl appearance, while the Falcons have made the trip to the season’s final game just once before in 1998. They lost that game, while the Patriots boast four Super Bowl championships — most recently in 2014.

The Falcons’ photo and interview session will take place from 8:10-9:10 p.m. ET, and the Patriots will follow from 10-11 p.m.

The event will pit two different coaches against the media. Bill Belichick has traditionally been prickly with the media, mixing non-answers with effectual praise for Rutgers, rants against modern technology, and blatant sarcasm. His counterpart, Dan Quinn, has revealed himself as a master of the corny quip. His success has relied on his players buying in to concepts like “Brotherhood” and “Rise Up!”

Suffice to say, one of those coaches is more likely to handle questions from someone wearing a football as a mask than the other. If history is any indication, even the best-dressed reporters will have trouble getting close to Belichick or Quinn.

Media day will be held at Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ park located in downtown Houston. Tickets for the event are priced at $30 for field level seats and $20 for the upper deck. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. ET.

The “Opening Night” concept was pioneered last year in Santa Clara at Super Bowl 50. 6,000 fans attended, but the larger venue will allow the NFL to double the number of fans.

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Place: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas

TV: NFL Network

Online: NFL.com/watch or NFL Mobile for your phone