FOXBORO - With China out of the picture, the Pacific Northwest also disappeared off the Patriots' preseason map Monday.

Plans for the Patriots to play two preseason games against the Seattle Seahawks, one in Seattle and the other in Beijing, were wiped from the slate when the NFL's exhibition schedule was announced by the league Monday.

The Patriots, originally scheduled to begin their preseason schedule in the first week of August, will now wait until the weekend of Aug. 9-13 to visit Tampa Bay for their exhibition opener, starting a traditional four-game schedule.

Only one of the Patriots' preseason games has a specific date and time because it's part of the national television schedule. The Patriots will visit the Carolina Panthers on Friday, Aug. 24 at 8 p.m., a game to be telecast nationally on CBS.

The Patriots also have a home game against the Tennessee Titans scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 16-20, and will conclude the preseason with a visit to Gillette Stadium by the New York Giants sometime between Aug. 31 and Sept. 2. The full regular-season NFL schedule will be announced Thursday.

The Patriots' plan to have five preseason games, including two against the Seahawks, was scrapped when the NFL decided to postpone its "China Bowl" exhibition game in Beijing until 2009.

The league on Monday confirmed cancellation of the Aug. 9 game in Workers Stadium, which had first been reported by Sports Illustrated football writer Peter King on Sunday night. In a news release, an NFL spokesman said the league wanted to focus all of its attention upon an Oct. 28 regular-season game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London, the first regular-season contest to be played outside the United States in league history.

"The regular-season game initiative was approved by NFL ownership after we announced the China Bowl," said Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International. "Therefore, we will focus this year's efforts on the regular-season game."

The league official said the Chinese audience would be better served if a preseason game was scheduled after the 2008 Summer Olympics, and then to be played in the new National Stadium in Beijing the following August.

"Our assessment is that Chinese fans would be better served if our game in China is played at a later date after we have launched our international series of regular-season games and more effectively paved the way for the introduction of our game into China," said Waller. "As a new sport in China, it is critical that we create the best platform for the introduction of the game. We are delighted Beijing authorities have agreed with our assessment and have invited us to play in Beijing in 2009."

As part of the revised plan to introduce American football to the Chinese audience, NFL International is establishing an office in Beijing and will partner with the city to build fan interest in the game prior to the 2009 contest, which may or may not involve the Patriots.

Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, whose International Paper Products company has strong business ties to China, was a strong proponent of his team's involvement in the introduction of football to the country of 1.3 billion people. Several Patriots' players were not as enthusiastic about the plan, which was seen as a significant disruption of their preseason routine.

Neither Kraft nor anyone else from the Patriots' organization has commented publicly upon the league's decision to scrap the China game. Reportedly, team officials had planned to visit Beijing in recent weeks to begin preparations for the game, but two scheduled trips were canceled.

Also announced Monday was a list of nationally televised preseason games, starting with the Pro Football Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, Aug. 5 between the New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In a departure from past practice, the 8 p.m. game will be available only on the cable-only NFL Network. Games on CBS will include Buffalo at New Orleans (Aug. 10), San Diego at St. Louis (Aug. 18) and the Patriots-Carolina game on Aug. 24.

Games scheduled for the Fox network are Indianapolis at Dallas (Aug. 9), Minnesota at the New York Jets (Aug. 17) and Jacksonville at Green Bay (Aug. 23).

Games on NBC, in that network's familiar Sunday-night slot, are Seattle at San Diego (Aug. 12), the New York Giants at Baltimore (Aug. 19) and Philadelphia at Pittsburgh (Aug. 26)

In addition to the Hall of Fame Game, the NFL Network will carry Washington at Tennessee (Aug. 11).

ESPN has one Thursday game, Miami at Kansas City (Aug. 16) and three preseason editions of Monday Night Football - Denver at San Francisco (Aug. 13), the Super Bowl XLI rematch of Chicago and Indianapolis at the RCA Dome (Aug. 20) and Cincinnati at Atlanta (Aug. 27).

All televised games will start at 8 p.m.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com.