2026 NFL Season: Kickoff Date, Week 1 Games, and How to Watch

The 2026 NFL schedule is out and the season opener is set: the Super Bowl champion Seahawks host the Patriots on a Wednesday night. Between a midweek kickoff, a Thursday game in Australia on Netflix, and games split across six different services, “how do I watch” is a fair question this year. Here is the Week 1 slate with exact times, and a plain breakdown of which subscription actually gets you which games.

The quick answer

Season opener: Wednesday, September 9, Patriots at Seahawks, 8:20 PM ET on NBC and Peacock
International opener: Thursday, September 10, 49ers vs Rams in Melbourne, Australia, 8:35 PM ET on Netflix
Week 1 Sunday Night Football: Sunday, September 13, Cowboys at Giants, 8:20 PM ET on NBC
Week 1 Monday Night Football: Monday, September 14, Broncos at Chiefs, 8:15 PM ET on ABC and ESPN
Regular season length: 18 weeks

Week 1 primetime schedule

Every time below is Eastern, straight from the NFL’s official Week 1 release:

Date	Game	Time (ET)	Where to watch
Wed, Sept 9	Patriots at Seahawks (Kickoff Game)	8:20 PM	NBC, Peacock, NFL+
Thu, Sept 10	49ers vs Rams (Melbourne)	8:35 PM	Netflix
Sun, Sept 13	Cowboys at Giants (SNF)	8:20 PM	NBC, Peacock, NFL+
Mon, Sept 14	Broncos at Chiefs (MNF)	8:15 PM	ABC, ESPN, NFL+

Two things worth flagging. The opener is on a Wednesday, not the traditional Thursday, so a lot of people will miss it by habit. And the Melbourne game is on Netflix only, which means no cable package or NFL subscription gets you that one.

Which service do you actually need

The confusing part of modern NFL viewing is that no single subscription covers everything. Here is the split:

CBS (and Paramount+): a share of Sunday afternoon games
FOX: the other share of Sunday afternoon games
NBC (and Peacock): Sunday Night Football, plus this year’s Wednesday opener
ABC and ESPN: Monday Night Football
Amazon Prime Video: Thursday Night Football
Netflix: select international games, including the Week 1 Melbourne game
NFL Sunday Ticket (through Google): out-of-market Sunday afternoon games
NFL+: live local and primetime regular-season games, plus game replays and shows; NFL RedZone is available through NFL+

The practical version for most people: an antenna or basic package covers CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC, which is the bulk of the season. You only need Prime Video for Thursdays, Netflix for the international games, and Sunday Ticket if you want to follow a team outside your local market.

What Week 1 tells you about the season

Opening night is a rematch of relevance, with the defending champion Seahawks hosting on their own field at Lumen Field
The Australia game is a first-week experiment, not a late-season novelty, which signals how seriously the league is treating the international slate
Broncos at Chiefs on opening Monday puts a division rivalry in the season’s first primetime AFC West slot

How to avoid missing games

Check kickoff by your own time zone, not ET. The 8:20 PM ET opener is 5:20 PM on the West Coast
Set the Wednesday reminder now. A midweek opener breaks years of Thursday habit
Use the official 2026 schedule, which lets you filter by team and shows the carrying network per game
Do not buy a package for one game. The Melbourne matchup is the only Week 1 game that requires Netflix

Bottom line

The season starts Wednesday, September 9 on NBC with Patriots at Seahawks, Netflix carries the Melbourne game two nights later, and the traditional Sunday and Monday primetime slots land September 13 and 14. Free-to-air channels still carry most of the season; the streaming extras are for Thursdays, international games, and out-of-market viewing.

Schedule, times, and broadcast details verified against the NFL’s official 2026 schedule release and Ways to Watch pages as of July 26, 2026. Networks occasionally flex late-season games; this guide will be updated with the revision noted if Week 1 changes.