Seahawks to kick off 2026 NFL regular season on a Wednesday with Australia debuting next night
Week 1 of this year's NFL regular season will open on an atypical night followed 24 hours later by a game from an atypical site.
The start of the 2026 NFL regular season is going to look a touch different. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will kick things off on Sept. 9, which is a Wednesday.
The opponent they face at Lumen Field will be revealed at a later date. On Sept. 10, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will continue the glut of NFC West teams out of the gate as they face off in the league's first regular-season game in Australia.
It will be the first of a record nine international dates on the 2026 season's ledger. With Labor Day falling on Sept. 7 this year, the league had to advance its first games so as not to conflict with high school contests across the country.
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