The opening week of the NFL season for the past two years has been a paradise of football, with games on four of five nights separated only by the college football slate on Saturdays.
That will change in 2026, as the Sports Broadcasting Act from 1961 (which is currently under scrutiny from Congress) will force the league to move off its Friday-night international window. The law prohibits NFL games from being broadcast within 75 miles of a high school or college football game between the second Friday in September through the second Saturday in December. For the past two seasons, the NFL season has started early enough in September that it has been able to bypass these regulations and schedule games in Brazil on Friday nights.
The 2026 NFL season is scheduled to kick off the weekend of Sept. 11, which would interfere with the 1961 act. NFL EVP Hans Schroeder confirmed the scheduling on Tuesday on a conference call with reporters.
The NFL is more aggressive than ever, booking games in exclusive national windows like this, and it allows them to experiment with new partners. The change will affect fans’ calendars, but it will also notably hit the NFL’s pocketbook. NBCUniversal and Peacock paid an estimated $105 million to air the game in 2024, and YouTube is believed to have spent the same for this week’s Chiefs-Chargers clash in Sao Paolo.
One positive for the league is that, as commissioner, Roger Goodell clamors for an international broadcast window; losing the Friday opener opens up another overseas slot for early Sunday mornings. Most expect that if the NFL moves to play 17 or 18 international games per year, they would sell them as a package in the 9:30 a.m. ET window.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.