2026 NFL schedule released: Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch opens the season
The National Football League unveiled its 2026 regular-season schedule on Wednesday night during a three-hour prime-time special, one of the most-watched non-game broadcasts on the league calendar. The release laid out the 17-week programme for all 32 franchises.
The season opens with a Super Bowl rematch: the New England Patriots will host the Seattle Seahawks, a rerun of February's Super Bowl LX in Atlanta. The game is scheduled for Thursday night, September 10, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and will be carried by NBC.
The schedule includes 51 prime-time games across Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football and Sunday Night Football. Three Sunday-night matchups stand out: Kansas City hosting Detroit in week three, San Francisco at Philadelphia in week nine, and Buffalo hosting Cincinnati in week 14.
Five games will be played overseas. Two are scheduled for London, two for Germany, and one for Sao Paulo, which returns for a second straight year as the league's South American showcase. The Sao Paulo game is again slotted into the opening week, while London fixtures will alternate between Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley.
Defending champions Seattle have three prime-time appearances on the calendar: the opening night fixture in New England, a Thanksgiving game, and a week-16 visit to Green Bay. The Thanksgiving trio adds the Pittsburgh Steelers alongside the traditional Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys home games.
Super Bowl LXI will be played on February 14, 2027, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. It is the city's seventh time hosting the game, moving it ahead of Miami at the top of the all-time list. The league said tickets would go on sale on June 16.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said the schedule release "sets up a season packed with familiar rivalries and headline match-ups across our 17-week format." Goodell noted that the league was now in the third year of its 17-game regular season and said the international game total would rise to seven in 2027.
The Kansas City Chiefs, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are the only team scheduled for six prime-time games. It is the third season running that Kansas City has led the league in prime-time appearances.
The New York Giants, who drafted at the top of the order, have only one prime-time game scheduled; the New York Jets have three. Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans have no prime-time games on the published schedule.
The league also said it had built in flexibility for week 18, with the option to move some games to Sunday night or Monday based on playoff stakes. The final decisions on flex moves will be made after week 17 concludes.