NFL International Slate Gives Legacy Networks Bigger Stage

The NFL’s unprecedented international schedule for the 2026 season is now set, and it’s also bringing sizable changes for U.S.-based fans.

The league, as projected, unveiled the matchups for the full, nine-game slate Wednesday morning. The expansive plan includes:

• Week 1 (Sept. 10): 49ers vs. Rams. Melbourne, Australia. This game, the league’s first-regular season contest in Australia, has been set since February, and it’s forced the league’s kickoff game to shift to Wed., Sept. 9. Netflix is expected to show this game as part of an upgraded NFL rights package, and the streaming giant is set to have much more to say about its programming plans with the league at its upfront presentation to advertisers Wednesday afternoon. 
• Week 3 (Sept. 27): Ravens vs. Cowboys. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This contest was finalized during the recent NFL Draft. It will be shown on CBS in a prominent late-afternoon broadcast slot. 
• Week 4 (Oct. 4): Colts vs. Commanders. London, England. This game will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and shown on NFL Network. 
• Week 5 (Oct. 11): Eagles vs. Jaguars. London, England. Also set for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the game forms the first part of another back-to-back set of London games for Jacksonville. The contest will be shown on NFL Network 
• Week 6 (Oct. 18): Texans vs. Jaguars. London, England. Jacksonville’s stay in England shifts to Wembley Stadium for the AFC South division clash, and it will also be shown on NFL Network. 
• Week 7 (Oct. 25): Steelers vs. Saints. Paris, France. The league’s first regular-season game in France gets a high-profile matchup with Pittsburgh, one of the league’s most popular teams, facing New Orleans at Stade de France. The game will be shown on NFL Network.
• Week 9 (Nov. 8): Bengals vs. Falcons. Madrid, Spain. This game, too, will be shown on the NFL Network and was initially announced Tuesday as part of Disney’s upfront event. 
• Week 10 (Nov. 15): Patriots vs. Lions. Munich, Germany. This game will be shown on Fox and forms the first part of an unprecedented tripleheader of NFL action on the network that day. 
• Week 11 (Nov. 22): Vikings vs. 49ers. Mexico City, Mexico. The second international game for San Francisco in 2026 forms part of what is poised to be a record number of miles traveled in a season by any NFL team. The game will be shown in primetime on NBC as part of the Sunday Night Football schedule. 

The nine total international games set a league record, and are two more than the seven played in 2025. The announcement of these contests followed prior game reveals this week by NBC, Fox, Amazon, and ESPN, and it preceded the full schedule drop set for Thursday. 

Aside from the Jaguars’ separate agreement to play part of their schedule each year in London, NFC teams will be the designated home team in each of the international games this year as part of the NFL’s schedule formula. That rotation gives each NFC team a ninth home game in 2026, regardless of whether it’s played internationally or in their own stadium. 

Broadcast Shifts

In past seasons, the NFL’s international play was primarily focused on games shown Sunday morning in the U.S. and aired on the NFL Network. The league’s complex equity deal with ESPN, however, returned four games to the league to be resold and brought the NFL Network under Disney-led operation, and is helping prompt the changes now unfolding across the schedule.

As a result, each of the legacy broadcast network rights holders is participating in the international schedule this year—with some of those matchups getting into prominent late-afternoon and primetime slots. Those networks have also received additional exclusive broadcast windows with the league as the NFL faces heightened political and regulatory pressure about its growing embrace of streamers. 

These placements for the international games have all but guaranteed record levels of viewership already. Six of the seven NFL’s 2025 international games were shown on the NFL Network and averaged 6.2 million viewers per game—up 32% from 2024 and a record figure, but also something certain to be smashed by the audience for this year’s global schedule. 

In particular, the increasing embrace of the legacy networks could more than triple the audience for some of these international games compared to prior coverage on the NFL Network.