Time

Why are the two conference championship games being played at such odd times? 3 pm and 6 pm are the first and only start times for any NFL game a season, and it always happens on the penultimate weekend. Why is that?

I suspect the 3 pm start has something to do with the West Coast times. A 1pm EST game starts at 10 am on the West Coast. At least a 3 pm game starts at a more manageable Noon in California. From there, the 6pm game follows as the natural seque.

But again, why 3? Why not 4pm, a traditional NFL start time? The divisional round games start at 4pm and 8pm on Saturdays (and the tradition 1/4 times on Sunday). Why not make the 3pm start time 4?

I suspect it has something to do with a 4 pm start pushing the second game to at least 7pm. 7 pm doesn't really work for the networks - why the Sunday Night and Monday night games start at 8:30 in prime time. To push the second game to 8 (0r 8:30) means that there is too much of a gap of downtime between contests. It doesn't flow seamlessly. I would also guess that the NFL is loathe to identify which of the two conference championships it favors by having to select one of them for the coveted prime time slot.