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The NFL’s staging of its season opener on a Wednesday could quickly become a fixture, particularly if viewership is strong for the Super Bowl LX rematch between the Patriots and Seahawks.
Even before NBC Sports airs the much-anticipated game from Lumen Field, play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico said he foresees the unusual scheduling not being a one-and-done.
“I think the NFL is such an entertainment powerhouse that people will adjust their lives and schedules for the right matchup and the right game,” Tirico said in a call with reporters. “A rematch of the Super Bowl, a couple of high-profile teams, makes sense. And it makes logistic sense to clear out time so they can play Thursday night, which is Friday morning in Melbourne. I think if it works, which I expect it will…I think it adds possibilities there.”
The league initially unveiled the unusual Week 1 scheduling in March, when it solidified plans to play on Thursday night for U.S. viewers, from Australia, and avoid any calendar complications related to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, aimed at protecting college and high school football. That international plan then pushed the traditional NFL kickoff game involving the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks to the non-traditional Wednesday slot.
NBC Sports has since leaned heavily into the Wednesday scheduling, running a near-ubiquitous “Hump Day” promotion featuring Tirico, fellow network announcer Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tomlin, and a talking camel.
The network is also ramping up marketing for the kickoff game with a series of other assets across the NBCUniversal portfolio, including promotions and NFL-themed programming airing on several sister networks, and a “Race to Wednesday” campaign in which a custom NFL kickoff football traveled over the past week from Boston to Seattle.
A New Normal
The opener, however, won’t be the only Wednesday game on the 2026 schedule. The NFL has planned a Thanksgiving Eve game between the Super Bowl LXI favorite Rams and Packers, airing on Netflix, another matchup with big viewership expectations.
These types of holiday showcases, the creation of more standalone game windows, and the NFL’s growing international ambitions are each putting more pressure on scheduling norms.
“I think the schedule is going to have to be more flexible as we go along,” Collinsworth said. “You can put it on every night of the week for me. I’ll be just fine.”
NBC Sports is eager to get its 2026 NFL schedule off to a strong start with Wednesday’s opener. A 65-minute weather delay in last year’s season opener between the Cowboys and Eagles, played on a Thursday, derailed what was initially tracking to be a record audience for an NFL kickoff game. The network, meanwhile, will be using established Nielsen methodologies for reporting its NFL game viewership following some preseason friction.
