Seahawks-Pats could be start of Wednesday NFL openers

The Week 1 Super Bowl rematch for the Seattle Seahawks may not be a one-off as a Wednesday NFL season opener.

BY JOSH DUBOW

May 15, 2026, 12:21 PM

Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl NFL schedule Wednesday...

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks catches a pass against the New England Patriots during the third quarter Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium on February 08, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

With Labor Day falling later this year and the NFL wanting to play a Week 1 game in Australia, the opener was moved to a Wednesday for the second time in league history.

Seattle Seahawks schedule starts with Super Bowl rematch vs. Pats

That might not be a one-off.

The league announced a new deal with Netflix through 2029 that guarantees the streamer a Week 1 game in addition to the traditional opening game on NBC for the defending Super Bowl champion. Schroeder said that could lead to a Wednesday start to the season again.

The 2026 season opens on Wednesday Sept. 9 with the Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots on NBC, followed by a game on Netflix the next night in the United States between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. That game will kick off on Friday morning in Australia.

“I think you’ll see us certainly playing on a couple nights, weekday nights to start the year going forward,” Schroeder said.

The NFL played an international game in Week 1 on a Friday night the previous two seasons but can’t play again on Friday night in Week 1 until 2029 because of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that prohibits the league from televising games on Friday night starting with the second Friday of September. The Friday of Week 1 will be on the second Friday of September again in both 2027 and 2028.

The only other time before this season that the first game of the NFL season was played on a Wednesday came in 2012 when the Dallas Cowboys visited the New York Giants. The game was moved from its usual Thursday spot that year because President Barack Obama was set to speak that night at the Democratic National Convention.