Kevin Kelley

NFL schedule release 2026: Complete 18-week slate unveiled

Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The NFL Schedule for 2026 has officially been released. Regular season football kicks off on Wednesday, September 9 with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots at 8:20pm ET on NBC and Peacock.

Sunday Night Football in Week 1 will feature the New York Giants hosting the Dallas Cowboys. The game is set for Sunday, Sept. 8, also at 8:20pm ET on NBC and Peacock.

The first Monday Night Football matchup of the 2026 NFL schedule features the Denver Broncos traveling to play the Kansas City Chiefs. The game will be broadcast by ESPN and ABC at 8:00pm ET.

The NFL will play its first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game on Wednesday, December 25. The contest features the LA Rams hosting Green Bay at 8:00pm ET on Netflix.

Thanksgiving Day features three matchups — Chicago at Detroit, Philadelphia at Dallas, and Kansas City at Buffalo. The following day on Black Friday, Denver will travel to face Pittsburgh.

The NFL will have a Christmas Eve contest this season, and it features Houston at Philadelphia on Thursday, December 24 at 8:15pm ET on Prime Video.

Christmas Day falls on a Friday this season, and the NFL will again play games on that day. The first two matchups feature Green Bay at Chicago (1:00pm ET) and Buffalo at Denver (4:30pm ET), and both will stream live via Netflix. A third matchup will be televised by FOX, and it features Seattle hosting the LA Rams at 8:15pm ET.

The 2026 NFL Playoff Schedule is slated to begin on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2027 with the Wild-Card Round. Super Bowl LXI is slated for Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. The game will kickoff at 6:30pm ET and will be televised by ESPN and ABC.

Below is information on flexible scheduling and other date changes this season:

In 2006, the NFL implemented “flexible scheduling,” a procedure designed to promote quality matchups on Sunday nights and give surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime. For the 2026 season, flexible scheduling will include Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and Thursday Night Football. For up-to-date information about “flexible scheduling” for the 2026 season, please visit https://www.nfl.com/schedules/flexible-scheduling-procedures.

For Sunday Night Football, it may be used up to twice between Weeks 5-10, and any week during Weeks 11-17;

For Monday Night Football it may be used any week in Weeks 12-17;

For Thursday Night Football it may be used up to twice between Weeks 13-17.

During the Flex Scheduling Windows, the games initially scheduled for Sunday Night Football (on NBC), Monday Night Football (ESPN or ABC), and Thursday Night Football (on Prime Video) are tentatively scheduled and subject to change;

Only Sunday afternoon games (or those listed as TBD) are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, Monday night, or Thursday night, in which case the initially scheduled Sunday, Monday, or Thursday night game would be moved to Sunday afternoon;

Sunday afternoon games may also be moved between 1:00 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET.

Scheduling for Week 18:

As in prior seasons, for Week 18, the final weekend of the season, the scheduling of the Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and the Sunday night games is not assigned. The schedule for Week 18 will be announced at the conclusion of Week 17

Tickets for the 2026 NFL season are now on sale. You can buy your NFL Tickets via our partner StubHub (we may make a small commission which helps support the site).

Check out the full weekly NFL Schedule here.

2026 NFL TEAM SCHEDULES

AFC

NFC

NFL COMPOSITE SCHEDULES