2026 NFL schedule will be released on May 14: Here's everything we know about the slate of games
The full 2026 NFL schedule arrives May 14. Here's what we know about release time, international games, holiday matchups and more
If you've been waiting patiently for the NFL schedule to be released, you're not going to have to wait much longer. The release date has officially been set for May 14 at 8 p.m. ET. There had been some speculation that the release might be delayed, but that's not the case. The full slate of games will now be released Thursday.
The NFL will be offering a sneak peek at a few games on the schedule starting early next week.
- The league's broadcast partners will each get to announce a game before the actual release of the schedule. In the past, these announcements have taken place on the day of each network's upfronts. This year, the upfronts will be running from May 11 through May 13, so there will likely be at least one game announced on each of those days.
- The entire international schedule will be unveiled one day early. The NFL will be playing a record-setting nine international games in 2026, and ALL of those games will be revealed on May 13 at 9 a.m. ET on "Good Morning Football."
The full schedule will be revealed at 8 p.m. ET on May 14 on NFL Network and ESPN2.
Although we won't have the full 272-game schedule in our hands until May 14, there are a few things we already know about this year's slate of game, and we're going to cover those below.
Two games have been set for Week 1
The NFL has already announced two games that will take place during the opening week of the season.
- Wednesday, Sept. 9: TBA at Seahawks (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC)
- Thursday, Sept. 10: 49ers vs. Rams in Australia (8:35 p.m. ET, Netflix)
Notes: The Seahawks game will mark just the second time over the past 75 years that the NFL will open its season on a Wednesday. Since the Seahawks are the home team, that means they'll face either the Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Chiefs, Chargers or Patriots (We ranked all the options here). However, it likely won't be Kansas City. Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said the league likely won't tab his team to play in the opener since't it's not yet clear if Patrick Mahomes would be available for the Sept. 9 game. It also won't be the 49ers or Rams since they'll be playing in Australia.
Speaking of the game in Australia, that game won't technically be kicking off on Thursday night. Due to the time 14-hour difference, the game will kick off at 10:35 a.m. on FRIDAY in Melbourne, which will create an 8:35 p.m. ET kickoff on Thursday night in the United States. The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground will be hosting the NFL's first game Down Under, which is expected to be available worldwide on Netflix.
Cowboys and Ravens to face each other in Brazil
During the draft, the NFL revealed that the Ravens will be headed to Brazil to face the Cowboys this year. The league had announced in February that the Cowboys would be heading to Brazil for the NFL's first game in Rio de Janeiro, but at the time, we didn't know who the opponent would be.
The game between the Ravens and Cowboys will take place in Week 3 (Sept. 27) and will kick off at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS. Yes, you read that right, the game is on CBS. We've got more details on the Week 3 battle here.
This will mark the third time that the NFL has held a game in Brazil, but the first two games were played in Sao Paulo. This time around, Rio's iconic Maracanã Stadium will serve as the host.
Nine international games on the schedule
There will be nine international games on the schedule this year, which is the most in NFL history. We know the home teams involved for each game, but right now, the Australia game is the only matchup where we also know the visiting team.
Here's what the international schedule looks like so far:
- Melbourne -- Rams vs. 49ers
- Rio de Janeiro -- Cowboys vs. Ravens
- Paris -- Saints vs. TBA
- Mexico City -- 49ers vs. TBA
- London -- Jaguars vs. TBA (Wembley Stadium)
- London -- Jaguars vs. TBA (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium)
- London -- Commanders vs. TBA (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium)
- Munich -- Lions vs. TBA
- Madrid -- Falcons vs. TBA
Notes: There are a lot of rumors floating around about the international games, so let's cover those.
- Paris: The Saints will be hosting the NFL's first game ever in Paris, and according to French Media, that game will likely be played in Week 7 (Oct. 25). There have been several reports that the Browns will be the opponent in the game, but nothing is set in stone.
- Mexico City: The 49ers have two international games this year and it appears we know the dates for both games. We already know that they'll be traveling to Australia in Week 1. As for the Mexico trip, the NFL's executive vice president of media distribution, Hans Schroeder, revealed at the annual league meeting that the Mexico game will be played in Week 11, so the 49ers will be headed to Mexico City just before Thanksgiving. The 49ers opponent in Mexico will be the Dolphins, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
- Madrid: The Chiefs have been pushing hard to play the Falcons in Madrid, but the NFL hasn't yet made a decision on who the opponent will be. "We've been very open and aggressive with the league -- as we have been since the beginning -- that we want to play in Spain this year," Chiefs president Mark Donovan said last week, via the Kansas City Star. Last year's game in Spain was played in November and that will likely be the case again this year.
- Giants. There's a report that Giants will be playing an international game this year, so they could end up as a visiting team in one of these games. The Giants are scheduled to play the Commanders and Lions on the road, so if they do play an international game, it would be in London or Munich.
As for the London games, the NFL generally puts those on the calendar in consecutive weeks starting in early October, so that will likely be the case again. The Jaguars will be serving as the home team for two straight games in London, marking the first time in NFL history that a team has played consecutive international games as the home team.
Other scheduling notes: Christmas tripleheader happening, Thanksgiving Eve possible
Here are a few other notes about the upcoming schedule:
- The Christmas tripleheader will be returning in 2026. For the fourth time in five years, the Christmas tripleheader is back. The first two games of the holiday will be shown on Netflix and Fox will get the prime-time game. One team that could end up playing on Christmas is Kansas City. The Chiefs have played on Christmas for three straight seasons, and now, they want to make it four in a row. "We'd love to play on Christmas," Donovan said, via ESPN. "We respect that the league wants to spread it around. We get it. Right now, we expect to be in a lot of prime-time games. We've made it pretty clear that our preference is to play at home on Christmas." The primetime game on Christmas is expected to be played on Fox.
- Thanksgiving Eve game expected to happen. In other scheduling news, the NFL is expected to hold a Thanksgiving Eve game for the first time ever. The league is giving serious consideration to playing a prime-time game on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. "We're actively looking at that window," Schroeder said at the NFL's Annual League meeting. "We think when we look at the calendar and look at other natural nights that we could aggregate and serve our fans, and deliver a unique-size audience, that's a night that jumps out to us." The two teams playing on Thanksgiving Eve in Week 12 will likely be getting a bye in Week 11, according to NFL scheduling guru Mike North. The game is expected to be streamed one of five games streamed on Netflix this year, according to one report.
- Second Black Friday game might be in play. The NFL added a Black Friday game three years ago and there could be a second onecoming in 2026 to go along with the Thanksgiving Eve game. Back in December, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was considering the possibility of having a Black Friday doubleheader this year.
- No more Monday doubleheaders. Since 2023, the NFL has been holding multiple Monday night doubleheaders each season, but that will no longer be the case starting this year. "When we did the deal (with Disney) five years ago, we thought adding two games on Monday night would be a great thing for fans," Schroeder said of why the league is dumping the Monday doubleheaders, via The Athletic. "It was more free football that was sort of outside of a Sunday afternoon. I think we collectively struggled and realized that fans felt that they were conflicted to choose between those games."
The 2026 schedule will feature 272 games, and although we don't know the time or date for most of those games, we do know who each team will be playing. You can check out the home-and-away opponents for all 32 teams by clicking here.
