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Cardinals and Cowboys to open preseason in Hall of Fame game (turf permitting)

The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. (Getty Images)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. (Getty Images)

Mark your calendars, y’all: the NFL (or a reasonable facsimile of it) returns in 160 days.

The annual Hall of Fame game will be played on Aug. 3, and on Thursday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the two teams who will take part: the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

Both teams have a strong connection to the Hall’s Class of 2017: quarterback Kurt Warner, who led the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2008 season, and Jerry Jones, who bought the Cowboys in 1989, are members of the seven-man induction class.

It will be the fifth time Arizona plays in the Hall of Fame game, and the sixth for Dallas.

Last year’s Hall of Fame game, between the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts, was cancelled after the field was deemed unsafe. The turf had been painted for the game, and then covered with plastic panels because the stadium also plays host to the induction ceremonies; because the paint was not dry before the plastic panels were placed, the grass became hard and efforts to fix the surface were not sufficient.

Likely as a means of avoiding any such issues this year, the game will be played on Thursday, before the enshrinement on Saturday.