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Seahawks to Host Wednesday Season Opener as Super Bowl Champs in 2026

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 4:37 PM

The NFL announced that the 2026 season will kick off on a Wednesday night for only the second time in league history. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will host the opening game on September 9, with their opponent to be determined later.

For just the second time in NFL history, the league will kick off its season on a Wednesday evening, with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks serving as the host team for the 2026 season opener.

League officials made the announcement Wednesday, revealing that Seattle will take the field for the traditional championship opener on September 9, moving the game up one day from its typical Thursday night slot. The scheduling change accommodates the league’s plans for a Week 1 matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams to be played in Australia.

NBC will broadcast the Seahawks’ home opener, though the visiting team has yet to be announced.

The last time the NFL launched a season on Wednesday occurred in 2012, when the Dallas Cowboys traveled to face the New York Giants. That game was shifted from its regular Thursday evening time slot due to President Barack Obama’s scheduled address at the Democratic National Convention.

The 49ers and Rams will face off September 11 in Melbourne for their season opener. Australian fans can expect kickoff around 10:35 a.m. local time on Friday, which translates to 8:35 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday evening for American viewers. The network that will air this international contest remains undecided.

Over the previous two seasons, the NFL scheduled Week 1 games in Brazil on the opening Friday night of September. However, with Labor Day falling later in 2026, the first Friday of the season lands on the second Friday in September, preventing the league from broadcasting games that evening due to restrictions in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

Although Wednesday games occurred more frequently during the NFL’s early decades, this marks only the fifth such game since 1950. The other instances include two Christmas Day games in 2024 when the holiday fell on Wednesday, one COVID-19 postponed game in 2022, and the 2012 season opener.

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