Super Bowl 2019 pregame: What's happening in the hours before the game?

The Rams and Patriots don’t kick off Super Bowl LIII until just after 6:30 p.m. ET, but that is just the culmination of a very busy Sunday of programming in and around the biggest sports day of the year.

CBS will telecast the Super Bowl this year, the 20th time the network has televised the event, more than any other network. The game broadcast that starts at 6 p.m. will feature Jim Nantz and Tony Romo calling the action, but things start up on CBS a full 6½ hours earlier.

They are not alone.

Like a normal football Sunday, we get lengthy pregame shows from both NFL Network and ESPN. NFL GameDay Morning starts at 9 a.m. on NFL Network and runs for an astonishing 8½ hours. ESPN’s NFL Countdown starts at 10 a.m. and runs for four hours, aided by the addition of Panthers tight end Greg Olsen to the mix.

In addition to the football programming on CBS, the network will also mix in a pre-taped interview with President Donald Trump at approximately 3:30 p.m., which sounds like a fantastic time to go get food.

If you need a palate cleanser in the middle of 15 hours of wall-to-wall football, you can catch cuddly pets do battle in either the Puppy Bowl — can you believe this is the 15th incarnation? — or the Kitten Bowl.

You can find television coverage on or at least tangentially related to the Super Bowl on a myriad of networks on Sunday. Here is your schedule (all times ET):

CBS

11:30 a.m.: That Other Pregame Show
12 p.m.: Road to the Super Bowl
1 p.m.: Tony Goes to the Super Bowl (behind the scenes with Tony Romo)
2 p.m.: The Super Bowl Today
4 p.m.: Super Bowl Kickoff Show
6 p.m.: Super Bowl LIII: Rams vs. Patriots

NFL Network

9 a.m.: NFL Gameday Morning
6:30 p.m.: Super Bowl Game Center

ESPN

10 a.m.: Postseason NFL Countdown

Hallmark Channel

5 p.m.: Kitten Bowl VI

Animal Planet

6 p.m.: Puppy Bowl XV