SPORTS

2026 NFL schedule: All the intel ahead of Thursday's release

ByNFL Nation ESPN logo

Monday, May 11, 2026 10:24PM

The 2026 NFL schedule will be released Thursday night, and for only the second time, the regular season will start on a Wednesday.

The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will open the season Sept. 9 against an unannounced opponent. Since 2004, 21 defending champs have played in the opener and they have gone 16-5, including the Philadelphia Eagles' 24-20 win against the Dallas Cowboys to start the 2025 season, according to ESPN Research.

The season is starting midweek to accommodate the first regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia. The Los Angeles Ramswill play the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 8:35 p.m. ET for U.S. audiences. Melbourne is 14 hours ahead of New York and 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles and San Francisco, meaning the game will kick off at 10:35 a.m. local time the next day in Australia. The NFL will play a record nine international games in 2026 across four continents and seven countries.

The last time the NFL season started on a Wednesday was in 2012 to accommodate then-President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention the following day.

The first "Sunday Night Football" matchup was announcedMonday as coach John Harbaugh will make his New York Giants debut against the Cowboys. In another NFC East rivalry game, Dallas will host the Eagles on Thanksgiving.

NFL Nation reporters will provide a bold prediction for every team following Thursday's schedule release, and those will be in this file, along with analysis for each team and links to see the full schedule. In the meantime, here are links to every team page and depth chart.