2026 NFL Schedule Release Tracker

The Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game will be against the Chicago Bears, it was announced Thursday. The game will kick off the NFL’s three-course holiday at 1 PM ET on CBS.

The game is the first of two divisional rivalries this Thanksgiving, with Eagles-Cowboys set for 4:30 PM on FOX.

Netflix will exclusively stream the NFL's International Series game from Melbourne, Australia on Thursday, September 10, featuring the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. The NFC West showdown will begin at 8:35 PM ET, early Friday morning in Melbourne.

The game is the first of a five-game package for Netflix, which also includes a new "Thanksgiving Eve" game on Wednesday, November 25 (Packers-Rams), two Christmas Day games to be revealed later, and a Saturday afternoon game in the final week of the season.

The NFL confirmed its slate of international games airing on ESPN-owned NFL Network. The league will stage three straight Sundays of games in London: Colts-Commanders in Week 4, followed by consecutive Jaguars games against the Eagles and Texans. The first-ever game in France follows, with the New Orleans Saints hosting Pittsburgh at the Stade de France in Paris on October 25.

The game in Madrid on November 8 will feature the Bengals and Falcons, as was announced yesterday. The Munich, Germany game, which pits the Detroit Lions against the New England Patriots on November 15, will air on FOX, while all other European games are set for NFL Network.

NFL Network's seven-game slate includes these five international contests, plus some late-season Saturday matchups.

A special edition of Sunday Night Football will head to Mexico City in Week 11, it was announced Wednesday. The San Francisco 49ers will face the Minnesota Vikings in Estadio Banorte on November 22, at 8:20 PM ET on NBC.

Previous editions of the Mexico City have mostly been a part of Monday Night Football. The NFL's other International Series game in the western hemisphere features the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro as part of CBS's Week 3 national window.

The NFL's second-ever game in Spain will feature the Cincinnati Bengals facing the Atlanta Falcons, it was announced Tuesday. The game will air at 9:30 AM ET on NFL Network on November 8 (Week 9) from Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

NFL Network is now owned by ESPN, who will produce all of the network's games this year.

ESPN announced Tuesday it has reached a deal with Univision to sublicense Spanish-language rights to Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027. ESPN will continue to produce a separate Spanish-language telecast for ESPN Deportes.

Univision previously aired a presentation of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 via a sublicense of CBS's rights.

The English-language telecast will air on ABC and ESPN, with a number of simulcasts planned across Disney's suite of platforms.

An AFC divisional rivalry will take place under the lights as the Denver Broncos face the Kansas City Chiefs on the season debut of Monday Night Football, it was announced Tuesday. The game will air on ABC and ESPN at 8 PM on September 14.

The game was previously listed to be at a location "TBD", but was later confirmed to be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Amazon Prime Video’s fifth season of NFL coverage will feature the Buffalo Bills hosting the Detroit Lions in the first game at Buffalo’s new stadium, it was announced Monday.

The game will stream at 8:15 PM on Thursday, September 17.

CBS Sports confirmed to Sports Media Watch Monday it will have a standalone game window on Saturday, December 19 at 8 PM. The announcement confirms earlier reporting from SMW that the network would have a special window, which has been extracted from its existing inventory.

The game will follow at least one other game that day, on FOX. Both games will air opposite the first round of the College Football Playoff on ESPN/ABC and/or TNT Sports.

Participating teams will be revealed when the full schedule is released Thursday night.

A divisional rivalry will be the main course on Thanksgiving Day this year as the Philadelphia Eagles visit the Dallas Cowboys. The game will air on FOX at 4:30 PM on November 26.

With the inclusion of out-of-home viewing in Nielsen viewership estimates in recent years, the Thanksgiving games have continued to draw record viewership, including more than 57 million for last year's Chiefs-Cowboys game on CBS.

The Thanksgiving game is the second Cowboys game announced today, with NBC's Sunday Night Football set to feature them against the Giants in Week 1.

ESPN announced Monday that the "majority" of its NFL games will be simulcast on ABC, continuing a trend that began as replacement programming in 2023.

ESPN also confirmed the network will air 19 regular-season games (17 MNF games and a Week 18 Saturday doubleheader), with each Monday night featuring a single game this year. NFL Network will also air 7 games to be revealed on Wednesday.

Monday Night Football debuted on ABC in 1970 before moving exclusively to the cable network in 2006. Coverage on broadcast TV returned for select games in 2020 before expanding to nearly the full season in 2023.

Four national NFL games will air on broadcast TV as part of new and existing inventory, including one game each on NBC and CBS, and two games on Fox, Sports Media Watch has learned. The NBC game and the FOX game were part of the four-game package relinquished by ESPN in its purchase of NFL network. The CBS game and the FOX game will come from those partners' existing inventory.

FOX will use its extra windows for a Sunday international game on November 15 and a Saturday matchup on December 19. NBC will have a Saturday game on January 2, and CBS has not revealed where its special window will be scheduled.

NBC Sports announced Monday it has acquired an additional NFL broadcast window in Week 17. The "NFL Holiday Special" will air on Saturday, January 2 at 4:30 PM on NBC and Peacock, followed by its annual Peacock-exclusive game in primetime.

Participating teams for both contests will be revealed when the full NFL schedule is announced on Thursday.

Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch revealed in the company’s earnings call Monday morning that the network has picked up two additional NFL broadcast windows. The first will be a morning window on November 15, featuring the Detroit Lions hosting an international game from Munich, Germany. Fox will follow with two windows at doubleheader at 1:00 and 4:25 PM, resulting in a rare NFL tripleheader on a single network.

Fox has also acquired a Saturday window on December 19, which once again coincides with the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The two games would appear to be a part of the five-game package the NFL was shopping to various digital and linear platforms. Netflix is believed to have been awarded the remaining games.

NBC Sports announced the season opener of Sunday Night Football will feature the New York Giants hosting the Dallas Cowboys. The game will kickoff on Sunday, September 13 at 8:20 PM on NBC and Peacock.

The game will be the sixth time in the last seven years the Cowboys have opened their season on NBC, between two Kickoff games in 2025 and 2021 and four SNF openers.

NBC will also televise the season-opening NFL Kickoff game on Wednesday, September 9, with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks hosting a TBA opponent.