Overview
- The 2026 regular season begins Wednesday, Sept. 9, with defending champion Seattle hosting New England in a nationally televised kickoff on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET.
- The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will play the NFL's first regular-season game in Australia on the following night, Sept. 10, with Netflix carrying the U.S. stream.
- Week 1 is spread across Wednesday through Monday, with the first full Sunday slate scheduled for Sept. 13 and the week ending Monday night at Kansas City.
- Broadcasters and streamers are split across marquee windows this year, leaving viewers to navigate NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN/ABC, Amazon Prime and Netflix to watch different games.
- Sportsbooks and advanced projection models have released Week 1 lines and simulations that are framing betting narratives and survivor-pool strategy for the opening slate.