The 2026 NFL schedule is here, and for the first time ever, the league is bringing a regular season game to Australian soil. That’s not just a headline — it changes the entire shape of how we’ll watch the season Down Under, starting with a Friday morning kickoff at the MCG.
Below is your one-stop overview: the structural changes, the international slate, the holiday tripleheaders, and how it’ll all land on Aussie TV. Australian broadcasters haven’t finalised their week-to-week selections yet — that always lands closer to kickoff — but the framework is set, and we’ll be updating the full weekly TV guide here on usasports.com.au Live US Sports TV Guide — every game with AEST times and live scores every Tuesday/Wednesday during the season. Bookmark it.
The Headline: Melbourne, Week 1
Let’s start with the obvious. The Los Angeles Rams “host” the San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, 11 September 2026 at 10:35am AEST. It’s Australia’s first-ever regular season NFL game, and it’s an NFC West rivalry game between two teams that combined for 24 wins in 2025.
A few quick things for Aussie fans:
- It’s a morning kickoff at the MCG, which means a normal lunchtime in Melbourne — not the usual 3am alarm clock NFL fans here are used to setting.
- In the US, it broadcasts in primetime Thursday night (10 September, 8:35pm ET / 5:35pm PT), which is why this slot exists — the NFL effectively gets a standalone showcase window with the world watching.
- The Niners are coming off a deep 2025 run and a Mexico City game later in the year — they’ve got the league’s most punishing travel schedule. The Rams are a quick in-and-out trip. Watch the jet-lag angle.
How to watch in Australia: Expect this to be the season’s biggest Seven/7mate/7plus FTA broadcast — Seven holds the free-to-air rights and they’re not going to miss the first-ever NFL game on home soil. It’ll also be live on ESPN via Kayo/Foxtel, and every game streams live on NFL Game Pass via DAZN. We’ll confirm channel and start-of-coverage times closer to the date.
The Season At a Glance
- Season opener: Wednesday, 9 September 2026 — Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots (8:20pm ET). It’s a Super Bowl LX rematch, and it’s the first Wednesday opener since 2012, shifted to accommodate the Melbourne game.
- Regular season ends: Sunday, 10 January 2027 (all Week 18 games are intra-division, as has been standard since 2010).
- Playoffs begin: 16 January 2027.
- Super Bowl LXI: 14 February 2027 at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California.
- 18 weeks, 17 games per team, one bye. Byes run from Week 5 through Week 14, with the usual omission of Week 12 (Thanksgiving week — everybody plays).
A Record Nine International Games
The 2026 slate has more international games than any season in history — nine of them — across four continents and seven countries. Three of those cities are hosting for the first time.
| Date | Matchup | City | Stadium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 11 Sep (Week 1) | 49ers @ Rams | Melbourne, AUS | MCG |
| Sun 27 Sep (Week 4) | Ravens @ Cowboys | Rio de Janeiro, BRA | Maracanã |
| Sun 4 Oct (Week 5) | Colts @ Commanders | London, UK | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium |
| Sun 11 Oct (Week 6) | Eagles @ Jaguars | London, UK | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium |
| Sun 18 Oct (Week 7) | Texans @ Jaguars | London, UK | Wembley |
| TBC | TBC | Paris, FRA | TBC |
| TBC | TBC | Madrid, ESP | TBC |
| TBC | TBC | Berlin, GER | TBC |
| TBC | 49ers (home) | Mexico City, MEX | Estadio Azteca |
For Aussie viewers, the London games are absolute gold — Sunday afternoon UK kickoffs roughly equal late Sunday night / pre-dawn Monday AEST, which is one of the more civilised viewing windows of the entire season. Expect Seven to grab at least one of them for the 7mate/7plus FTA window.
The Rio game lands Sunday afternoon local time, which becomes Monday morning AEST — workable, especially if Baltimore-Dallas is as good as it should be.
The Holiday Slate (Bigger Than Ever)
Thanksgiving Week — Now Five Games
The NFL has stretched the Thanksgiving footprint again. Week 12 features its first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game: Green Bay Packers at LA Rams on Wednesday, 25 November (8pm ET), streaming on Netflix. Old McVay-LaFleur mate-mates squaring off in a likely NFC playoff preview.
The Thanksgiving Day tripleheader (Thursday 26 November):
- Bears @ Lions — Detroit’s annual; NFC North rematch from a season Chicago won the division.
- Eagles @ Cowboys — Dallas’s annual; first time these two have met on Turkey Day since 2014.
- Chiefs @ Bills — primetime headliner, AFC heavyweight rematch.
Then Black Friday (27 November) caps the week — matchup confirmed at schedule release.
AEST timing: Thanksgiving Day games in the US become Friday morning here (roughly 4:30am, 8:30am and 12pm AEDT for the three windows). The Bills-Chiefs primetime game lands late Friday morning Australian time — perfect for a long lunch. Seven has historically picked up at least one Thanksgiving game for FTA; we’d expect Cowboys-Eagles or Chiefs-Bills to make that cut.
Christmas Day Tripleheader — Three Playoff Rematches
The NFL is leaning into Christmas hard. The 2026 slate is three straight rematches from the 2025 playoffs:
- Packers @ Bears — Wild Card rematch (Chicago won the original).
- Bills @ Broncos — Divisional Round rematch.
- Rams @ Seahawks — NFC Championship rematch (Seattle won and went on to win the Super Bowl).
For Aussie viewers, Christmas Day NFL is one of the genuine joys of the calendar — these games run from early Christmas morning into the afternoon AEST, so you can watch with the family while everyone else is dozing through cricket. Netflix has been streaming the Christmas games and will again — that part of the puzzle for Australian access we’ll confirm as it firms up.
Championship Rematches Everywhere
Thirteen games on the 2026 schedule are Super Bowl rematches, and twelve are rematches from the 2025 postseason. Three to circle:
- Week 1, Wednesday opener: New England @ Seattle — Super Bowl LX rematch.
- Week 17: Denver @ New England — AFC Championship rematch.
- Weeks 16 and 18: Rams and Seahawks twice — they’re division rivals, but those are also both NFC Championship rematches, and Week 18 will be the regular season finale for both clubs.
That last one is going to matter. Seattle defended its Super Bowl crown territory in the NFC West last year and the Rams will be gunning. Don’t be surprised if Week 18 ends up being a Sunday night flex with playoff seeding on the line.
How to Watch in Australia (2026 Framework)
The broadcast landscape in Australia hasn’t changed structurally from 2025, so here’s what we know to expect:
Seven / 7mate / 7plus (Free-to-Air) — Seven continues as the FTA home of the NFL. Expect them to air:
- The Wednesday season opener (Seahawks-Patriots)
- The Melbourne game (49ers-Rams) — almost certainly their biggest broadcast of the year
- Weekly Thursday Night Football (Friday mornings AEST)
- Two Sunday afternoon games each week (shown Monday mornings AEST)
- Selected Thanksgiving and Christmas games
- The full NFL playoffs and Super Bowl LXI
Weekly FTA picks are announced via the 7plus NFL hub — usually mid-week. We’ll list them every week here.
ESPN on Kayo / Foxtel — Live coverage across the weekend, including:
- Sunday Night Football (Monday mornings AEST)
- Monday Night Football (Tuesday mornings AEST)
- A minimum of six games per round plus NFL RedZone (3am AEST Mondays — the seven-hour whip-around)
- Every international game
- Full playoffs and Super Bowl
NFL Game Pass via DAZN — Every single game, live and on demand. If you want the Cardinals-Panthers Week 8 game at 4am on a Monday, this is your only avenue.
Netflix — Christmas Day games and the Thanksgiving Eve standalone (Packers-Rams). Standard Netflix subscription required.
YouTube — One Friday night global game expected again (as with Brazil in 2025). Details for 2026 still to be confirmed.
What We Don’t Know Yet (and When We’ll Know It)
A few things still need to be confirmed by Australian broadcasters and the league, and we’ll be tracking all of it:
- Seven’s weekly FTA selections — these come out roughly one week before each round.
- Final kickoff times for the Paris, Madrid, Berlin and Mexico City games.
- Netflix’s exact Australian availability for the Thanksgiving Eve game.
- Flex schedule changes from Week 11 onward — Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football can all be flexed late in the season.
That’s where this site comes in. Every Tuesday/Wednesday during the 2026 NFL season, we’ll publish a full Aussie-time TV guide — what’s on Seven, what’s on Kayo/ESPN, what’s exclusive to Game Pass — with kickoff times converted to AEST, the Aussies-to-watch in each game, and quick reads on what to actually tune in for.
The Melbourne game is the front door. Everything from Week 2 onward is where the real season lives. We’ll see you here every week.
Schedule details confirmed via NFL Football Operations, NFL.com and MCG official announcements. Australian broadcast arrangements based on Seven Network and DAZN/Kayo coverage frameworks for the 2025 season — 2026 selections will be finalised week-to-week and updated here.
