The NFL announced that the 2026-27 regular season will begin on Wednesday, September 9th at 8:20 p.m. EDT, with the Seattle Seahawks hosting an unnamed team. The Seahawks' opponent will be announced when the 2026 NFL schedule is released in May.
This will be the first time in 14 years that the NFL regular-season opener will be played on a Wednesday. In 2012, the Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants fell to the Dallas Cowboys 24-17 at MetLife Stadium in the first game of the season.
Typically, the regular-season opener is played on a Thursday. However, this year, the game will be held on a Wednesday because the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face off in Melbourne, Australia on September 10th. That game will be played at 10:35 a.m. on Friday in Australia and at 8:35 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
The National Football League will be playing a record nine international games this season. London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Paris, Munich, and Rio De Janeiro will be the host cities for these matchups. Three games will be played in London: two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium.
We already know some of the participating teams in these international contests outside of the Melbourne game. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington Commanders will be the home teams in London, with the Jags hosting two of those games. The Atlanta Falcons have been assigned the home team in the Madrid game. In December, the San Francisco 49ers will be the host team in Mexico City. Though the month is not known, it is confirmed that the Detroit Lions will be the home team for the Munich game, while the New Orleans Saints will be the host team for the Paris game. Lastly, the Dallas Cowboys have been designated as the home team for the 2026 game in Brazil.
