ESPN will televise [[Super Bowl LXI]] and simulcast this game on ABC in the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hayes |first=Dade |date=May 16, 2023 |title=Super Bowl Spanish-Language Rights Claimed By TelevisaUnivision In U.S.; Company Tells Upfront Buyers Its Vix Streaming Service Has Passed 30 Million Users |url=https://deadline.com/2023/05/super-bowl-spanish-language-televisaunivision-upfronts-vix-streaming-1235368196/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523194210/https://deadline.com/2023/05/super-bowl-spanish-language-televisaunivision-upfronts-vix-streaming-1235368196/ |archive-date=May 23, 2023 |access-date=2023-05-25 |work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]}}</ref>
ESPN will televise [[Super Bowl LXI]] and simulcast this game on ABC in the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hayes |first=Dade |date=May 16, 2023 |title=Super Bowl Spanish-Language Rights Claimed By TelevisaUnivision In U.S.; Company Tells Upfront Buyers Its Vix Streaming Service Has Passed 30 Million Users |url=https://deadline.com/2023/05/super-bowl-spanish-language-televisaunivision-upfronts-vix-streaming-1235368196/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523194210/https://deadline.com/2023/05/super-bowl-spanish-language-televisaunivision-upfronts-vix-streaming-1235368196/ |archive-date=May 23, 2023 |access-date=2023-05-25 |work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]}}</ref>
====Radio====
* [[Westwood One Radio]] has rights to air all games televised by the national partners (including streaming).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cummins |first=Aaron |date=2022-03-28 |title=NFL and Westwood One Renew, Expand Partnership — 03/28/2022 |url=https://westwoodonesports.com/2022/03/nfl-and-westwood-one-renew-expand-partnership/ |access-date=2025-07-14 |work=Westwood One Sports}}</ref>
* [[ESPN Radio]] and [[Sports USA Radio Network]] has rights to air select Sunday afternoon games on its radio networks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ESPN Audio Fact Sheet |url=https://espnpressroom.com/us/espn-audio-fact-sheet/ |access-date=2025-07-17 |work=ESPN Press Room U.S.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Schedules |url=https://sportsusa.live/schedules/ |access-date=2025-07-17 |work=Sports USA Media}}</ref>
* This is the fifth and final season of the league’s five-year deal with [[SiriusXM]] to simulcast all 32 teams’ local regular season and postseason broadcasts, including a wraparound show called ”SiriusXM NFL Sunday Drive”.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-26 |title=National Football League and SiriusXM Announce Extension and Expansion of Broadcasting Agreement |url=https://investor.siriusxm.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1855/national-football-league-and-siriusxm-announce-extension |access-date=2025-07-21 |work=Sirius XM Holdings Inc.}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
2026 National Football League season
| Duration | September 10, 2026 – January 10, 2027 |
|---|---|
| Start date | January 16, 2027 |
| Date | February 14, 2027 |
| Site | SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California |
| Date | February 2027 |
| Site | TBD |
West, 
North, 
South, 
East West, North, South, EastThe 2026 NFL season is the upcoming 107th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season is scheduled to begin on September 10, 2026, with the NFL Kickoff Game, and end on January 10, 2027. The playoffs are then set to begin on January 16 and will conclude with Super Bowl LXI the league’s championship game, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on February 14, making it the NFL’s latest date to end the season.
Player movement
The 2026 NFL league year and trading period is scheduled to begin on March 11. On March 9, teams will be allowed to exercise options for 2026 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2025 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the “top 51” definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team’s payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 11, clubs will be allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with players whose contracts had expired and thus became unrestricted free agents.[1]
Free agency
Free agency is scheduled to begin on March 11, 2026.[1]
Draft
The 2026 NFL draft is scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 23–25, with events held at Acrisure Stadium, Point State Park, and other venues throughout the city.[2]
Regular season
The season is planned to be played over an 18-week schedule, beginning on September 10. Each of the league’s 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week. The regular season is then scheduled to end on January 10, 2027; all games during the final weekend will be intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.
Each team plays the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions), and one game against a team in another division in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their respective division the previous season.[3]
The division pairings for 2026 are as follows:[3]
|
Four intra-conference games |
Four interconference games |
Interconference game by 2025 position |
Highlights of the 2026 season are planned to include the following (with the full schedule expected to be announced in Spring 2026):
- NFL Kickoff Game: The season will begin with the Kickoff Game on September 10, 2026, hosted by the defending Super Bowl LX champion.
- NFL International Series: The first regular season game in Australia is planned to be held in 2026, with the Los Angeles Rams as the designated home team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.[4] London, England will again host games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium[5] and at Wembley Stadium.[6] Games will also be held at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;[7] Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany;[8] and at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico.[9]
- Thanksgiving: Three Thanksgiving Day games are planned to be held on November 26, with Detroit and Dallas expected to host traditional afternoon doubleheader, and a primetime game between opponents yet to be announced. Another game will be scheduled on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving.[10]
- Christmas: Christmas Day, December 25, lands on a Friday. When this happened the last time in 2020, that week’s Thursday Night Football was played on Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve.
Flexible scheduling rules
This will be the fourth season of the league’s flexible scheduling system that includes Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and increased the amount of cross-flexing (switching) of Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox.[11][12][13]
Postseason
The 2026 Playoffs are scheduled to begin with the Wild Card Round from January 16–18, 2027, with three games played in each conference. In the Divisional Round, scheduled for January 23–24, the top seed in the conference will play the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams play each other. The winners of those games advance to the Conference Championship games scheduled for January 31. Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for February 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Head coaching and general manager changes
Head coaches
Off-season
General managers
Off-season
Stadiums
This is planned to be the first season that the Buffalo Bills will play at the new Highmark Stadium. The team had played at the previously-named Highmark Stadium (originally Rich Stadium) since 1973.[19]
This is scheduled to be the final season in which the Tennessee Titans will play their home games at their current Nissan Stadium. The new stadium, also to be called Nissan Stadium, is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2027 season.[20]
Due to scheduled renovations at their home EverBank Stadium, the Jacksonville Jaguars will temporarily relocate after the 2026 season to Camping World Stadium in Orlando, pending the approval of other league owners. Camping World Stadium previously hosted the Pro Bowl from 2017 to 2020, 2024, and 2025.[21]
Uniforms
Rivalries series
AFC South and NFC North teams are scheduled to unveil their “rivalries” uniforms in 2026, designed to be worn at one home divisional game per season.[22]
National
Linear Television
ESPN and NFL Network‘s media rights are contingent on the pending ESPN–NFL Media merger and whether the deal receives regulatory approval prior to the announcement of the 2026 season schedule. Under the agreement announced in August 5, 2025, the NFL would take a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN in exchange for ESPN acquiring NFL Network (including taking over production of the NFL Network Exclusive Game Series), television distribution rights to NFL RedZone and the RedZone brand, and the league’s official fantasy football service. In addition, the league would no longer schedule Monday night doubleheaders and instead resell the rights to those four extra games to interested broadcasters.[23][24][25]
Under ESPN and the NFL’s agreement these rights will continue to air and will be unaffected:
- ESPN will continue to produce Monday Night Football and the doubleheader on the last Saturday of the season, select MNF games and the Saturday doubleheader will be ESPN/ABC simulcasts (ABC will receive three additional simulcasts if the split doubleheaders get removed). Select games will also feature the alternative Manningcast on ESPN2. An alternate broadcast of an MNF Game will air on ESPN2, Disney Channel, and Disney XD as Funday Football that will use the league’s player tracking data to render a live animated version of the game portrayed by Disney characters.
- NFL Network will air all International Seriesgames and late season Saturday games (production of these games will be dependent on the agreement).
The league’s other media deals would be unaffected. CBS, Fox, NBC, along with its Spanish counterparts Fox Deportes, and Telemundo Deportes, will be entering into the fourth season of their 11-year U.S. media under these rights agreements.
- Sunday afternoon games are continued to be split between CBS and Fox. Both networks will continue to carry the Sunday afternoon AFC and NFC packages, respectively. When the initial schedule is created, CBS and Fox will be able to specify a limited amount of games involving teams from their respective conference that they want to air, but otherwise the league was free to schedule games regardless of conference. Each network is scheduled to air ten Sunday doubleheaders, with both networks airing one in Weeks 15 and 18, On Thanksgiving, CBS will have the early Detroit game and Fox will have the late Dallas game.
Streaming
- This will be the fifth year of a 12-year deal with Amazon Prime Video and Twitch to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football,[27]
- This will be Peacock‘s fourth season of a six-year deal to exclusively stream one regular season game, in addition to simulcasting all NBC games.[27]
- Paramount+ will continue to simulcast all local and national CBS games.
- Fox One will continue to simulcast all local and national Fox games, it is unclear whether Tubi will air any games this season.
- ESPN DTC will continue to simulcast all ESPN and ABC games (including any alternate telecasts), pending with NFL’s non binding agreement, Disney+ may also air select games.
- The league’s streaming service NFL+ will continue to live stream in-market and national regular season and postseason games on mobile devices only, radio broadcasts for all games, most out-of-market preseason games and a live stream of NFL Network on its base tier, and replays of games along with a live stream of NFL RedZone on its premium tier, this is pending on its agreement with ESPN.
- This will be Netflix‘s third and final year to exclusively stream Christmas Day games,[28][29]
- This will be the fourth season out of a seven-year deal that the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market sports package (which consists of out of market Sunday afternoon CBS and Fox games)will stream on YouTube TV, as well as on YouTube’s Primetime Channels service as a standalone subscription option.[30]
- Like in previous seasons, any additional one-year modifications to these rights are expected to be announced with the 2026 season schedule.
Postseason
All four broadcast partners will air at least one Wild Card round game, with CBS and Fox airing an AFC and NFC Wild Card game, respectively. NBC will air the Sunday night game under the sixth year of its seven-year deal.[31][32][33] ESPN/ABC will broadcast a Wild Card game (whether or not if it’s the Monday night game is unclear).[34][35] NBC will air a second Wild Card game this season as part of the rotation with Fox and CBS. This will also be the third postseason under a multi-year deal that Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream a Wild Card playoff game.[36][37]
This will be the fourth season that all four broadcast television partners air one divisional playoff game per season (ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC).[38]
ESPN will televise Super Bowl LXI and simulcast this game on ABC in the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.[39]
Radio
- Westwood One Radio has rights to air all games televised by the national partners (including streaming).[40]
- ESPN Radio and Sports USA Radio Network has rights to air select Sunday afternoon games on its radio networks.[41][42]
- This is the fifth and final season of the league’s five-year deal with SiriusXM to simulcast all 32 teams’ local regular season and postseason broadcasts, including a wraparound show called SiriusXM NFL Sunday Drive.[43]
References
- ^ a b “2025–2026 Important NFL Dates”. National Football League. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
- ^ “Pittsburgh to Host 2026 NFL Draft”. National Football League. May 23, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
- ^ a b “2023 National Football League Record & Fact Book”. National Football League. 2023. Archived from the original on June 27, 2023.
- ^ “Melbourne to host first-ever NFL regular season game in Australia in 2026; Rams designated team”. NFL.com. February 5, 2025.
- ^ “Tottenham Hotspur will host NFL matches at new stadium”. BBC Sport. July 8, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
- ^ Harvey, Demetrius (October 13, 2024). “Will Jaguars keep playing in London each year? Mark Lamping says negotiations ‘well underway’“. The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ^ “Rio de Janeiro to host NFL regular-season game in 2026”. NFL.com. September 26, 2025.
- ^ “NFL to play regular-season games in Munich, Germany in 2026 and 2028”. NFL.com. December 10, 2025.
- ^ “Roger Goodell: NFL to launch professional flag football leagues ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics”. NFL.com. October 2, 2025.
- ^ “Prime Video to stream ‘Black Friday’ NFL game in 2023”. NFL.com. October 18, 2022. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ “NFL flex scheduling rules gives CBS and Fox more power to protect games”. Awful Announcing. May 13, 2023. Archived from the original on May 15, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ^ “NFL may use flexible scheduling to move Sunday afternoon games to Monday night”. NBC Sports. May 12, 2023. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
- ^ “NFL shortens time needed for Thursday night flex to 21 days”. ESPN. March 31, 2025.
- ^ Benjamin, Cody; Sullivan, Tyler (November 10, 2025). “Giants fire Brian Daboll, ending a turbulent four-year run that began with early promise”. CBS Sports. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
- ^ “Brian Daboll relieved of duties; Mike Kafka to serve as Giants’ interim head coach”. giants.com. November 10, 2025. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
- ^ Wyatt, Jim (October 13, 2025). “Titans Part Ways With Head Coach Brian Callahan”. tennesseetitans.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ Wyatt, Jim (October 13, 2025). “Titans Name Mike McCoy Interim Head Coach”. TennesseeTitans.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ “Miami Dolphins and Chris Grier mutually part ways”. Miami Dolphins. October 31, 2025. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
- ^ Miller, Ryan. “Buffalo Bills are moving to a new stadium: Opening season, details”. Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
- ^ “Tennessee Titans, Nashville mayor unveil details of $2.1B stadium deal”. tennessean.com. October 17, 2022.
- ^ “Jaguars reportedly planning to play 2027 home games in Orlando, pending NFL owners approval”. CBS Sports. November 7, 2025.
- ^ “NFL, Nike launch Rivalries program with new uniforms, fan gear inspired by communities”. NFL.com. April 25, 2025.
- ^ Marchand, Andrew (August 1, 2025). “NFL deals Red Zone, NFL Media assets to ESPN in blockbuster billion-dollar agreement: Sources”. The New York Times. ISSNÂ 0362-4331. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
- ^ Karp, Austin (August 6, 2025). “NFL Media-ESPN deal may not close until end of 2026, but both sides pleased with pact”. Sports Business Journal. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
- ^ Rumsey, David (October 20, 2025). “ESPN’s ‘MNF’ Doubleheaders Will End—If NFL Equity Deal Clears”. Front Office Sports. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
- ^ “NFL Announces TV Deals ESPN ABC NBC CBS Fox Amazon”. ESPN.com. March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ a b “NFL completes long-term media distribution agreements through 2033 season”. NFL.com. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (May 15, 2024). “Netflix Scores Two NFL Christmas Day 2024 Games Under Three-Year Deal With League”. Variety. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (April 1, 2025). “NFL returns to Christmas tripleheader next season”. Sports Media Watch. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
- ^ Flint, Joe; Kruppa, Miles (December 22, 2022). “YouTube Cements Its TV Shift With NFL Sunday Ticket Deal”. Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (May 15, 2023). “Peacock shocker: Streamer gets exclusive NFL playoff game”. Sports Media Watch. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ “NBCUniversal and NFL Reach 11-Year Extension & Expansion for Sunday Night Football, Primetime TV’S #1 Show”. NBC Sports Pressbox. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Flint, Joe; Toonkel, Jessica (May 15, 2023). “Peacock to Carry One NFL Playoff Game Exclusively Next Season”. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- ^ “ESPN to broadcast Super Wild Card Weekend’s Monday night game for next five years”. www.nfl.com. October 13, 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
- ^ “ViacomCBS and NFL Reach New Long-Term Multiplatform Rights Agreement Through the 2033 Season”. www.businesswire.com. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Alper, Josh (March 26, 2024). “Amazon will be home to an annual Wild Card game starting in 2025”. Pro Football Talk. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
- ^ Karp, Austin (February 6, 2025). “Prime gets Wild Card game for duration of NFL deal”. Sports Business Journal. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
The Wild Card deal, which was originally reported as a one-year pact this time last year, will run through the 2032 season … Amazon reportedly paid around $150 million to stream the game in 2024, but it is not known what the escalators are for the subsequent seven years.
- ^ Volner, Derek (March 18, 2021). “The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and National Football League Reach Landmark Long-Term Agreement”. ESPN Press Room U.S. Archived from the original on March 16, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (May 16, 2023). “Super Bowl Spanish-Language Rights Claimed By TelevisaUnivision In U.S.; Company Tells Upfront Buyers Its Vix Streaming Service Has Passed 30 Million Users”. Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
- ^ Cummins, Aaron (March 28, 2022). “NFL and Westwood One Renew, Expand Partnership — 03/28/2022”. Westwood One Sports. Retrieved July 14, 2025.
- ^ “ESPN Audio Fact Sheet”. ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
- ^ “Schedules”. Sports USA Media. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
- ^ “National Football League and SiriusXM Announce Extension and Expansion of Broadcasting Agreement”. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. July 26, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
