Football.... Night... in America?

A couple weeks back I noticed, as I was channel surfing, that NBC is calling their Sunday evening coverage of the NFL Football Night in America. Having grown up on a steady diet of the incomparable Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) national event known as Hockey Night in Canada (I can hear the theme music in my head as soon as I even think HNIC), I have to wonder: is NBC paying tribute, stealing shamelessly, or just oblivious to the comparison? It seems unlikely that anything American would ever play off of anything Canadian (too much a case of the tail wagging the dog) but c'mon... Football... Night.. in America??