The 2026 NFL season is kicking off a bit earlier than usual.
The season opener will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9, instead of the usual Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As defending champs, the Seahawks will almost assuredly host that game against a still unknown opponent at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The game will air on NBC, according to the report.
Despite talks of the league starting the season with the 49ers-Rams bout in Melbourne, Australia, that game will take actually place on Thursday of the opening week.
The NFL started each of the past two seasons with an international game on the first Friday of the season.
But with the season starting the second weekend of September, the league can’t schedule a game on the opening Friday due to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which prevents the NFL from scheduling games on Friday nights from mid-September to mid-December.
The league’s full schedule and matchups are expected to be released in May.
The move to Wednesday marks yet another example of the NFL’s expanding dominance of the sports calendar.
In 2024, the NFL held two games on Christmas Day despite it being a Wednesday, fully stepping over the NBA’s usual marquee holiday slate.
A year earlier, the NFL added a Black Friday game.
Earlier this month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the NFL was “exploring” adding a game on Thanksgiving Eve.
League brass also appears to be pushing to add another game to the schedule, jumping to 18 games after having just moved to 17 games in 2021.
The NFL has also set its eyes on the international market in recent years, playing a record seven games overseas in 2025, with matchups in Brazil, Ireland, England, Germany and Spain.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
