‘Pardon the Interruption’ to air hour-long episode ahead of NFL opener

ESPN’s most beloved studio show is doubling its runtime ahead of Thursday night’s NFL opener.

Pardon the Interruption announced on Thursday morning that it would air a special hour-long episode to coincide with the beginning of the NFL season. The program will start at 5 p.m. ET, a half hour earlier than its typical 5:30 p.m. ET time slot.

While a special edition of a show increasing its runtime isn’t typically newsworthy, previous reports about ESPN wishing to expand PTI to an hour after the cancellation of Around the Horn earlier this year makes it so. The idea of a longer show was quickly shot down by co-hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as the expansion to an hour wouldn’t have come with much of a raise for the duo, per a Washington Post report. As such, the Post characterized the hour-long show as “mostly off the table” back in May.

However, today’s announcement would seem to indicate there’s an openness from Kornheiser and Wilbon to do the 60-minute show on occasion around major events, such as the NFL’s opening night.

ESPN has yet to find a permanent replacement for Around the Horn in the 5 p.m. ET window. The network currently airs a 30-minute edition of SportsCenter in the time slot.