National Football League
NFL
Who shows what in the 2026 NFL season, from Sunday afternoon on CBS and FOX to Netflix on Christmas.
Photo: All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Latest NFL stories
.jpg){kind=link}
Season guide
The 2026 NFL season is the league's 107th. The regular season opened on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, when Seattle beat New England in the Kickoff Game on NBC. It runs 18 weeks, in which each of the 32 teams plays 17 games and has one bye. The last regular-season Sunday is January 10, 2027, and every game that week is inside a division, as it has been since 2010.
Landmarks to know:
- Record international schedule: nine games abroad (Melbourne, Rio, London three times, Paris, Madrid, Munich, Mexico City). Madrid is on November 8.
- Trade deadline: not confirmed. We have no deadline date from a source we can use, so none is listed.
- No Pro Bowl game: the league announced on August 26 that it will not hold the game again. It will still name an 88-player Pro Bowl team each year and honor the players at a ceremony.
- Playoffs and Super Bowl: Wild Card weekend January 16 to 18, Super Bowl LXI on Sunday, February 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium. It is the latest date the game has ever been played.
Note. The Super Bowl moved to ABC and ESPN this year. ESPN will show the game live in English for the first time; ABC last aired it in 2006.
Schedule and key dates
Most Sundays have a 1:00 p.m. ET window, a 4:05 or 4:25 p.m. window, and a Sunday night game on NBC. Thursday night is Prime Video, Monday night is ESPN (with ABC simulcasting ten of them), and a handful of Saturday, Wednesday and holiday games are scattered between Netflix, NFL Network and the broadcast networks.
The league can flex games into and out of primetime. A few examples this season:
- Weeks 9 and 11 each cross-flexed a game between FOX and CBS.
- Week 16 has four games on hold; two of them become a Saturday doubleheader on NFL Network.
- Week 17 has four on hold for a Saturday doubleheader on NBC and Peacock.
- Week 18 starts with every game as TBD; the league names the Saturday and Sunday-night games after Week 17.
Dates marked Projected can still change.
- Nov 8SunInternational Series: Cincinnati vs Atlanta, Madrid
Played at the Bernabéu in Madrid. Our sources do not name the U.S. network, so check the weekly listing.
in 6 daysSource - Nov 15SunInternational Series: New England vs Detroit, Munich
Sunday-morning window on FOX, part of a tripleheader.
in 13 daysSource - Nov 22SunInternational Series: Minnesota vs San Francisco, Mexico City
Played at Estadio Azteca. NBC lists it as its Sunday Night Football game that day.
in 20 daysSource - Nov 25WedThanksgiving Eve game: Green Bay at LA Rams (Netflix)
First game on the day before Thanksgiving.
in 23 daysSource - Nov 26ThuThanksgiving: Chicago at Detroit, Philadelphia at Dallas, Kansas City at Buffalo
CBS has the early Detroit game, FOX the Dallas game, and NBC the night game. Tubi simulcasts the Dallas game.
in 24 daysSource - Nov 27FriBlack Friday Football: Denver at Pittsburgh (Prime Video)
Afternoon game, exclusive to Prime Video and Twitch.
in 25 daysSource - Dec 19SatWeek 15 Saturday doubleheader on CBS and FOX
FOX at 5:00 p.m. ET, CBS at 8:20 p.m. ET.
in 47 daysSource - Dec 24ThuChristmas Eve: Houston at Philadelphia (Prime Video)
Thursday-night game.
in 52 daysSource - Dec 25FriChristmas Day: Netflix doubleheader and a FOX primetime game
Green Bay at Chicago and Buffalo at Denver in the afternoon on Netflix; the Rams at Seattle at night on FOX.
in 53 daysSource - Dec 26SatPossible Week 16 Saturday doubleheader on NFL Network
Four candidate games are on hold; two may move to Saturday 4:30 and 8:00 p.m. ET. The league decides on short notice.
- Dec 31ThuThursday Night Football finale on New Year's Eve (Prime Video)
New Year's Eve. The matchup is not given in our sources.
in 59 daysSource - Jan 2SatWeek 17 Saturday: NBC game, then a Peacock-exclusive game
4:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, 8:00 p.m. ET on Peacock only. Two of four on-hold games will be picked.
- Jan 9SatWeek 18 Saturday: Netflix, then two on ABC/ESPN
Planned: 1:00 p.m. ET on Netflix, 4:30 and 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN. Every Week 18 game is listed as TBD until Week 17 ends.
- Jan 10SunRegular season ends (final Sunday Night Football, 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC)
All Week 18 games are inside divisions. One of them is chosen for the final SNF slot.
in 69 daysSource - Jan 16 to Jan 18Wild Card Round
Three games per conference. Amazon has a Wild Card game; NBC has two (one on Sunday night); CBS and FOX one each; ABC/ESPN one, date to be set.
in 75 daysSource - Jan 23 to Jan 24Divisional Round
One game each on ESPN/ABC, FOX, CBS and NBC.
in 82 daysSource - Jan 31SunConference Championship games
AFC on CBS, NFC on FOX.
in 90 daysSource - Feb 14SunSuper Bowl LXI, SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA)
On ABC and ESPN in English and ESPN Deportes in Spanish, per Disney's Oct 7 release (Wikipedia also lists Univision in Spanish). It is the latest Super Bowl date ever and the first on Valentine's Day.
in 104 daysSource
Next games
Square and bold = national TV or streaming
| Time ET | Game | Where |
|---|---|---|
Sun, Nov 81 game · 1 national | ||
| 8:20PM ET | Tampa Bay BuccaneersatChicago BearsSunday Night Football, per NBC. Flexible scheduling can change the game and the slot. Kickoff time is the usual SNF slot, not confirmed in our source. | |
Sun, Nov 151 game · 1 national | ||
| 8:20PM ET | Pittsburgh SteelersatCincinnati BengalsSunday Night Football, per NBC. Flexible scheduling can change the game and the slot. Kickoff time is the usual SNF slot, not confirmed in our source. | |
Where to watch
Under multi-year rights deals (CBS, FOX and NBC: 11 years each; Amazon: 12 years; YouTube for Sunday Ticket: 7 years), the picture for 2026 is:
- Sunday afternoon: CBS (AFC) or FOX (NFC), one game per local market on most weeks. Paramount+ or Fox One simulcast the same games.
- Sunday night: NBC and Peacock.
- Monday: ESPN, with some games also on ABC and Disney+.
- Thursday and Black Friday: Prime Video.
- Holidays and special windows: Netflix has Christmas Day, a Thanksgiving Eve game and a Week 18 Saturday game; FOX has a Christmas night game.
- Every Sunday-afternoon game: NFL Sunday Ticket (YouTube TV or a YouTube Primetime Channels add-on) shows the out-of-market ones.
- Phone-only: NFL+ lets you watch local and national games on a phone or tablet, not a TV.
This year ESPN acquired NFL Network and the distribution of RedZone, and the league took a 10 percent stake in ESPN (Wikipedia describes the deal; regulators approved it on January 31, 2026). If you want RedZone, check the current price from the seller itself before you buy; we do not publish prices we cannot source.
| Service | What you get | Scope | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABCbroadcast | Ten Monday Night Football simulcasts, the Week 18 Saturday doubleheader, and Super Bowl LXI on Feb 14, 2027 | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| CBSbroadcast | AFC Sunday-afternoon games (1:00 and 4:25 p.m. ET), Thanksgiving's early Detroit game, a Week 15 Saturday night game, the AFC Championship, and one Wild Card and one Divisional game | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| ESPNcable | Monday Night Football (ABC simulcasts 10 of them), a Week 18 Saturday doubleheader, a Wild Card and a Divisional game | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| ESPN app (Unlimited)streaming | The Unlimited tier simulcasts all ESPN-produced games and carries a live stream of NFL Network | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| FOXbroadcast | NFC Sunday-afternoon games, Thanksgiving's Dallas game, a Christmas Day night game, the Munich game, the NFC Championship, and one Wild Card and one Divisional game | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Fox Onestreaming | Simulcasts in-market and national FOX games | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Local team TV (regional / in-market)cable | Your local CBS or FOX station: you see the one regional game it is assigned each Sunday. Local stations also carry the NBC and ABC games. | Local | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| NBCbroadcast | Sunday Night Football (22 regular-season games including the Kickoff Game), the Thanksgiving night game, a Week 17 Saturday game, and two Wild Card plus one Divisional game | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Netflixstreaming | Thanksgiving Eve game (Nov 25), Christmas Day afternoon doubleheader, and a Saturday game on Jan 9 (Week 18) | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| NFL Networkcable | A package of seven national games produced by ESPN, including International Series games in Sunday-morning windows and a Week 16 Saturday doubleheader. ESPN now owns the channel. | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| NFL+league-pass | League-owned. Live in-market and national games on phones and tablets only, local and national radio, and NFL Network on the base tier; replays and RedZone on the premium tier | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| NFL Sunday Ticketleague-pass | Out-of-market CBS and FOX Sunday-afternoon games. Sold through YouTube TV or as a standalone YouTube Primetime Channels subscription. | Out of market | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Paramount+streaming | Simulcasts in-market and national CBS games | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Peacockstreaming | Every NBC game, including playoff games, plus one Peacock-exclusive game (Week 17 Saturday night) | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Prime Videostreaming | Thursday Night Football, Black Friday Football (Nov 27), a Christmas Eve game and a Wild Card game; also streams on Twitch | National | Needs Amazon Prime; price not shown (not read from a source we can use)Checked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| Tubistreaming | Free simulcast of FOX's Thanksgiving Day game from Dallas | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
| YouTube TVstreaming | Live-TV bundle that carries the broadcast networks and is one of two places to buy NFL Sunday Ticket | National | Not listedChecked Sun, Nov 1Source |
How the playoffs work
Fourteen teams make the playoffs, seven from each conference.
- Seeding: the four division winners in each conference are seeds 1 to 4 by record. The three best remaining teams are the wild cards, seeds 5 to 7.
- Wild Card Round (January 16 to 18): 2 hosts 7, 3 hosts 6, 4 hosts 5. Seed 1 gets a bye.
- Divisional Round (January 23 and 24): the top seed plays the lowest-seeded survivor; the other two survivors play each other. The NFL re-seeds each round; there is no fixed bracket.
- Conference Championships (January 31): the higher seed hosts.
- Super Bowl LXI (February 14): neutral site, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Tie-breaking rules are applied in order to decide seeds; the league publishes the full list.
On TV this January: in the Wild Card Round, CBS and FOX each have one game, NBC has two (one on Sunday night), Amazon has one on Prime Video, and ESPN/ABC has one on a date to be set. Each of the four broadcast partners has one Divisional game. The AFC title game is on CBS, the NFC title game on FOX, and the Super Bowl on ABC and ESPN, with Spanish-language coverage on ESPN Deportes and Univision.
Sources
- Wikipedia: 2026 NFL season (CC BY-SA 4.0, revision 1383106107)
The regular season began on September 9, 2026 ... and will end on January 10, 2027.
read 2026-11-01 - NBCUniversal: How to watch everything in the 2026 fall sports lineup
NBC and Peacock will present 22 regular-season games and three postseason games, including two Wild Card games and one Divisional Playoff game.
read 2026-11-01 - Wikipedia: NFL playoffs (CC BY-SA 4.0) read 2026-11-01
- Wikipedia: NFL Sunday Ticket (CC BY-SA 4.0) read 2026-11-01
- The Walt Disney Company: Disney+ to Stream Super Bowl LXI, Joining ESPN and ABC (official release, Oct 7, 2026)
the traditional game presentation airing on ESPN and ABC
read 2026-11-02