NFL plan controversial change to how the 2026 season starts with Super Bowl winners Seattle Seahawks

The 2026 NFL season is expected to begin with the Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks playing on a Wednesday night, it has emerged.

The schedule for the new season won’t be confirmed for at least another six weeks but reports have emerged that the NFL are bringing forward the first game due to their expanding overseas schedule.

The Seahawks will open the season at home on September 9 before the San Francisco 49ers play the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia on the Thursday, the day the season usually begins.

The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, also means that the NFL will not be staging a game on the Friday of opening week. 

If the move is confirmed by the NFL, it will be just the second time in 75 years that a league season has started on a Wednesday. 

The Australia game has been the source of some controversy among NFL teams.

San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey wasn’t thrilled at having to play in Australia 

On Super Bowl week the star running back for the 49ers, Christian McCaffrey said he thought Australia was too far to go to play a game. 

‘Australia’s pretty far,’ he said. ‘I’d love to see how the schedule would work. Transparently, that might be a little too far. 

‘You have to find another way to do that. It’d be really cool… we don’t care where we play, we’ll show up and play, but Australia, what’s that flight, 20 hours or something?’

Soon after, it emerged that the 49ers were the team that had been scheduled to face the Rams in Australia. Perhaps McCaffrey would have been pleased when he learned the flight was 16 hours, not 20.

It’s not the only overseas game his team have next season, either. They will also be hosting a game in Mexico City. The flight from San Francisco is much easier – only around four hours and 30 minutes. 

The Seahawks won the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots in early February, recording a commanding 29-13 win.