NFL OPENS ON A WEDNESDAY SO AUSTRALIA CAN GET A DOSE OF FOOTBALL

Football is back Wednesday at 8:20 ET, when the Seahawks host the Patriots at Lumen Field in a rematch of Super Bowl LX, the one Seattle won 29-13 in February. It's the NFL's first Wednesday opener since 2012, when the league got out of the way of a Democratic National Convention speech. This time the reason is Melbourne. The 49ers and Rams play Thursday night (American time) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which will be 10:35 Friday morning in Melbourne, so the whole schedule slid up a day to give Australia an NFC West game with its coffee. The big headline coming into the game is New England spending the final hours before kickoff at the bank. Christian Gonzalez signed for four years and $135 million, $102 million guaranteed, including a $33 million signing bonus that's a record for the position. That makes him the highest-paid cornerback in league history, edging the four-year, $132 million deal Devon Witherspoon signed with the team the Patriots play Wednesday. Months of stalled negotiations, and what finally moved it was a kickoff time. Seattle enters as 3 point favorites. San Francisco brought its injury report to Australia. Nick Bosa is playing after tearing his ACL in Week 3 last season and missing 14 games. George Kittle, who tore his Achilles in a playoff win over Philadelphia, is trending toward suiting up. The Rams open as Super Bowl favorites with the reigning MVP at quarterback, so nobody's taking the Aussie trip as a vacation.

Why you should give a shit: Defending champs are 16-5 in openers since 2004, so New England gets one Wednesday night and a $135 million cornerback to prove February wasn't the whole story.