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The 2026 NFL season is opening on a Wednesday night, and the reigning Super Bowl champions will be involved.
The Seattle Seahawks, who took down the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX to climb back atop the football world, will play host to a team to be announced later to kick off the 2026 season Sept. 9, a rare Wednesday game.
While the NFL has had to play on a Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts in the past or on holidays, this occurrence has to do with the league’s latest international debut of its product.
The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will be playing in Melbourne, Australia, with the game kicking off at 10:35 a.m. local time on a Friday. Back home, it will be 8:35 p.m. ET on Sept. 10, which is a Thursday night compared to Friday morning in Australia.
“We are thrilled to kick off our season in Melbourne, enhancing an already historic moment for both the NFL and the Rams,” Stephanie Cheng, Rams head of international, said in a statement.
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“Every time members of our organization visit, including earlier this month, we see firsthand the growing excitement from folks across Melbourne in anticipation of this game. Not only will it be special playing the 49ers on a Friday morning in Australia, it also will be great for our fans back at home to be able to watch this matchup in primetime on Thursday night.”
For the Seahawks home opener, this will mark the first time since 2012 the NFL opened its season on a Wednesday night. It was the New York Giants hosting the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium, and the Giants received their Super Bowl rings from the season before.
Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech was later that week in 2012. The league understandably didn’t want its start to the season overshadowed.
As the league continues to expand, especially internationally, with a record nine games set for the 2026 season, there could be football played on more Wednesdays in the future.
The NFL is reportedly considering adding a Thanksgiving Eve game, which would be the Wednesday before its usual three-game stretch on Thanksgiving night, in its continued exploration of new broadcast windows. ESPN reported the move could come as early as the 2026 season.
A “Black Friday” game has already been played the last three seasons, making a Wednesday contest on Thanksgiving Eve not a wild thought.
“Every offseason we look for new opportunities to best serve our fans in the schedule-making process,” the league said Wednesday in a statement.
“As Commissioner Goodell has said, Thanksgiving and NFL football have become synonymous and, given the continued growth of fan interest around our games on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, looking for additional opportunities tied to this special holiday is exciting for us to explore.”
The full NFL schedule will be released May 13 for every team in the league.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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