NFL Schedule Release Timing Remains a Mystery as Ad Upfronts Loom
In a perfect world, the NFL will release its 2026-27 schedule on or before May 11, when NBCUniversal and Fox are set to present their fall TV slates to advertisers and media buyers during their upfront presentations in New York. But as the world never tires of reminding us, nothing about it can be characterized as “perfect,” and there’s a chance that the six members of the league’s TV-planning team won’t have a final breakdown of the coming season available in time for the network’s big dog-and-pony shows. More from Sportico.
com William Blair to Buy Inner Circle, Bolstering Sports Dealmaking FCC Probe May Foil NFL's Early TV Renewal Talks Sporticast: Is It the Shoes!?! While the NFL effectively targeted next week as go-time for its schedule release, league VP of broadcast planning Mike North said he has no idea as to when the TV/streaming roster will be loosed into the wild. Speaking on the It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast last month, North told hosts Sal Capaccio and Matt Bove that fans (and the NFL’s media partners) may have to wait a little longer than usual for their first dive into the fall schedule.
“I don’t think it’s coming out in June, but the second week in May has been our target the last few years,” North said. “But I don’t think it’s impossible to think about the third week in May. ” Of course, if the schedule isn’t available next week, the NFL partners that still stage traditional upfront presentations (which is to say, every network other than CBS) won’t be able to highlight some of the must-see matchups for September and beyond.
From a transactional standpoint, the lack of specifics won’t be a deterrent to advertisers—after all, the last time anyone wrote a check at an upfront after-party was probably in May 2009, following ABC’s well-received screening of the full Modern Family pilot—but the networks obviously would enjoy having the opportunity to talk up some marquee events. In other words, while Fox would love to be able to crow about who the Cowboys will host on Thanksgiving Day, a little mystery surrounding that matchup isn’t going to cast a pall on the network’s Monday afternoon pitch. (Dallas could play the Cardinals and still draw over 55 million holiday viewers—which isn’t to say that the NFL plans to burn off one of its top TV windows with a team that went 3-14 last year.
The push to include Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in last year’s Tryptophan Bowl helped CBS reach a record 57. 2 million viewers . ) The networks next week may not be in a position next week to confirm that their top requests were honored by the league—since the Mahomes-Josh Allen rivalry launched in 2020, the big ask has been the annual Chiefs-Bills showdown, with CBS landing that barnburner in each of the last four years—but specificity isn’t necessarily paramount.
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