NFL releases full 2026 schedule May 14

The NFL released its full 2026 regular-season schedule on Thursday night, setting dates, kickoff times and television assignments for all 272 games. The league said the 18-week season will open on Wednesday, September 9, in Seattle and end on Sunday, January 10, after a Week 18 built around division matchups. Team-by-team schedules were posted on NFL.com, while broadcast partners and national outlets published full grids and club pages after the 8 p.m. ET release. ### When does the 2026 season begin and end? The NFL said the regular season begins on September 9 with a Wednesday night game in Seattle. The league’s announcement said the schedule concludes in Week 18 with three games on Saturday, January 9, and 13 games on Sunday, January 10. The NFL’s Football Operations site said the full schedule was released on May 14 at 8 p.m. (media.nfl.com) ET. The same page said the league’s broadcast partners announced select games during the week leading up to the full release. ### What is the headline Week 1 matchup? NFL.com’s schedule-release page said the defending champion Seattle Seahawks will open the season at home on NBC and Peacock. (media.nfl.com) CBS Sports reported that Seattle will host the New England Patriots in the opener. CBS Sports also reported that the full Week 1 slate includes nationally televised windows across the league’s usual broadcast partners. (operations.nfl.com) The league had teased the opening week on its schedule-release hub before publishing the complete schedule Thursday night. ### How many games are on the schedule? (nfl.com) The NFL said the 2026 regular season includes 272 games across 18 weeks. That format covers all 32 teams and follows the league’s current 17-game per-team regular-season structure. CBS Sports published both a week-by-week list of all 272 games and a separate team-by-team schedule page. Its team pages include weekly opponents, game dates, kickoff times, television channels and streaming information for every franchise. (picks-s1.cbssports.com) ### Where can fans find every team’s full slate? NFL.com posted the official 2026 regular-season schedule by week and by division, according to the league’s May 14 announcement. (media.nfl.com) The NFL’s schedule-release page also directs readers to the full regular-season and preseason listings. USA Today and CBS Sports each published full schedule pages on May 14. (cbssports.com) USA Today said the release covers the complete 18-week regular-season slate, and CBS Sports said its pages list all 32 clubs with dates, times and TV assignments. ### What else did the league say about the rollout? The NFL said NFL Network, ESPN2, the ESPN App and NFL+ carried live schedule-release coverage on Thursday night. (media.nfl.com) The league also said additional coverage was available on the NFL Channel across several streaming platforms. The NFL said earlier this week that its broadcast partners would reveal selected games before the full release. (usatoday.com) That rollout included international-game announcements on May 13, one day before the complete schedule was published. ### What comes next on the NFL calendar? September 9 is the next major date tied to the schedule release, when Seattle is set to host the season opener, according to the league. (media.nfl.com) January 9 and January 10 are the final regular-season dates, with Week 18 closing on a full slate of division games. (media.nfl.com)