The 2026-27 NFL schedule is beginning to come together, and NBC is getting an extra slice of pie.
On Monday, the network announced it has secured the rights to an extra NFL game during Week 17 of the regular season. The game, which is being branded as an NFL Holiday Special, will be played on Saturday, January 2, at 4:30 p.m. ET and be broadcast live across NBC and Peacock. Following the afternoon affair, Peacock will stream an exclusive NFL game in primetime, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Teams for both games will be announced later this week when the NFL releases its full schedule on Thursday.
The announcement comes shortly after Fox revealed on Monday morning’s earnings call that it would add two additional regular-season NFL games this season. Those games, however, seemed to be part of a larger package that the league was initially looking to split between Netflix and YouTube, but YouTube reportedly “balked” at splitting the package. Jon Lewis at Sports Media Watch confirmed that one of the aforementioned games is among the four ESPN had to give up as part of its NFL Media acquisition.
The primetime game marks the fourth consecutive season in which Peacock will exclusively air a regular-season game. In total, it will be the streamer’s fifth exclusive NFL game, including the Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins in January 2024.
Week 17 will now feature three separate NBC-produced NFL broadcasts: the two Saturday games and its usual Sunday Night Football matchup the following day. While abnormal for the network, it won’t be the first time NBC has produced three games in one week. In 2024, the network produced three games in Week 1: the NFL Kickoff Game on Thursday night, a Peacock-exclusive game from Brazil on Friday, followed by Sunday Night Football to cap off the weekend.
Earlier on Monday, NBC announced its first Sunday Night Football game of the season will feature the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.