NFL releases full 272‑game 2026 schedule with dates, times and international matchups

The NFL published its full 2026 regular-season schedule on Thursday, setting dates, kickoff windows and broadcast assignments for all 272 games in an 18-week season. The league said the season will open on Wednesday, September 9, with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots at Lumen Field. The schedule also locks in a record nine international games across four continents and seven countries, extending the league’s overseas slate beyond its usual London and Germany stops. Week 18 will again end with 16 division games on January 9 and January 10, with some kickoff times still subject to later announcement. ### Why does the season start on a Wednesday this year? September 9 is the opening night of the NFL’s 107th season, and the Seahawks-Patriots game is set for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, according to the league’s schedule release. The matchup is a rematch of Super Bowl LX, which Seattle won in February, and the league said it is the third Super Bowl rematch to be played on kickoff weekend. September 10 brings the second game of the opening week, with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers meeting at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia at 8:35 p.m. ET on Netflix. The NFL said the game will be the first regular-season NFL contest played in Australia. ### Where are the international games, and how many are there? May 13 was the date the NFL unveiled the full international slate, which totals nine games — the largest overseas schedule the league has staged. The league said those games will be played across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums. Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Paris are new regular-season host cities for 2026, while London, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City return to the calendar, according to the league. London will host three games, with two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium. The NFL said 16 teams are involved in the international slate, with the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers each scheduled to play twice overseas. The Rio game will feature the Baltimore Ravens against the Dallas Cowboys on September 27 at Maracanã Stadium, while the Melbourne opener places the Rams and 49ers in Week 1. ### What does Week 1 look like beyond the opener? Week 1 stretches across four days, beginning Wednesday in Seattle and ending Monday night, according to the league’s published slate. The opening Sunday includes a late-window NFC North game with Green Bay at Minnesota at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS. September 13 also includes Washington at Philadelphia in the late Sunday window and Dallas at the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. The Monday night opener closes the first week with Denver at Kansas City, according to the league’s Week 1 release. The Vikings-Packers game had been reported in advance as a possible season opener, but the league’s final schedule instead placed it in the Sunday afternoon window of Week 1. The official release made Seattle-New England the first game of the season. ### What stays the same in the 18-week format? The 2026 season keeps the 17-game, 18-week regular-season format that the NFL has used since 2021. The league said every team will again play 17 regular-season games and three preseason games, with the NFC serving as the home conference for the interconference 17th game in 2026. Week 18 remains built around division matchups. The NFL said all 16 games in the final week are division games, with three scheduled for Saturday, January 9, and 13 for Sunday, January 10. The league also said specific dates, start times and networks for some Week 18 games will be determined after Week 17 under its flexible scheduling procedures. That means the full 272-game framework is set, but the final weekend’s exact television windows are not yet completely fixed. ### Where can fans find the full team-by-team schedule now? NFL.com posted the complete 2026 schedule by team and by week on Thursday night, along with television and streaming assignments for the games already locked in. The league’s schedule page also includes preseason opponents and notes that Week 18 timing will be updated later where flex rules apply. Ticket pages for the international games are already live on the league’s international site, including pages for Madrid, London, Munich, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City. The next key dates on the calendar are September 9 for Seahawks-Patriots in Seattle and September 10 for Rams-49ers in Melbourne.