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Well, NOW you can consider upfront week closed. No matter how much or little detail was offered by the various companies that trotted out executives and talent for the advertising community in old New York this past week it took the NFL’s dramatic unveiling of its 2026 regular season schedule last night at precisely 8 PM ET to produce the details that pretty much every buyer of consequence was most interested in. When 84 per cent of the Top 100 programs of any kind are NFL-related–55 of them in prime time–one can’t be seriously considered a top-tier player if you’re not gonna be a part of it.
And although no canapes or mocktails were being offered up it’s clear the target audience among both media professionals and fan bases was being super-serviced by the bravado and hype that accompanied what historically was little more than a press release of something being cooked up in back rooms for several months. Indeed, key details of tentpole events had leaked during those actual presentations earlier in the week, especially those that had material implications on the heavily invested broadcasters and platforms. BLEACHER REPORT’s Andrew Peters observed how primetime was being treated:
The first primetime game will be a Super Bowl rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots on Wednesday, Sept. 9…All eyes will be on the Week 1 matchup between the Seahawks as those two squads begin their quest back to the Super Bowl. While both teams will look somewhat different this fall, the core remains the same as Seattle has Sam Darnold under center and New England has rising star Drake Maye as its signal caller.
The Thanksgiving matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs should also be interesting if star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is back to full strength. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday that there is a “realistic chance” Mahomes is ready to go by Week 1, which is great news for the Chiefs.Mahomes and Josh Allen have delivered some outstanding quarterback duels over the years, and Thanksgiving would be a perfect time for another one. Here’s a look at the full slate of Monday, Thursday and Sunday night games:
And as his colleague Zach Bachar further noted, that Turkey Night dessert is part of an expanded strategy on the NFL’s part to become an even more integrated part of your holiday than traffic and indigestion:
The trio of games on Thanksgiving will start with the Chicago Bears facing the Lions, as the two NFC North rivals previously clashed during the holiday in 2024.Chicago will be looking for some revenge heading into their 2026 battle, as Detroit won both matchups between the two teams last season…Dallas is also set to host the Philadelphia Eagles in their first Thanksgiving meeting at AT&T Stadium since 2014.
Christmas Day starts with another NFC North rivalry, as the Packers will be looking to bounce back from their 27-21 loss to the Bears in the Wild Card round of the playoffs…Meanwhile, the Bills’ 2025 playoff run came to an end at the hands of the Broncos in the divisional round. Buffalo fell to Denver in overtime by the final score of 33-30.In the final matchup of the day, the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams will have a rematch of their thrilling battle in the NFC Championship Game last season.
But it’s the newest course–a first-ever Thanksgiving Eve appetizer–and a second Wednesday night prime time offering–that has attracted the most attention–and not necessarily all positive, as THE SPUN’s Chris Rosvoglou noted:
The NFL confirmed on Wednesday that the Green Bay Packers will visit the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25. This game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and will be streamed exclusively on Netflix…Fans made it known that they’re not thrilled about a game being played on Thanksgiving Eve.”The NFL’s greed knows no boundaries,” one fan declared. “Thanksgiving week alone, you’re going to have the NFL on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. And that’s not even bringing up the CFB regular season finales with rivalries on Friday+Saturday. They’re killing the golden goose.”
The outrage has actually provoked one particular Packer Backer to use her office to saber-rattle, as AWFUL ANNOUNCING’s Drew Lerner took note:
After introducing federal legislation last month to ensure fans are guaranteed a free, live option to watch broadcasts of professional sports teams within their home state, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is coming after the NFL for its recent scheduling practices.On Wednesday, Sen. Baldwin issued a statement regarding the NFL’s decision to schedule her hometown Green Bay Packers for a Thanksgiving Eve game against the Los Angeles Rams exclusively on Netflix, which she claims forces “millions of Wisconsinites to pay or a subscription just to watch their home team play.” As the cost of just about everything continues to rise, the NFL is once again asking Wisconsinites to spend their hard-earned money on another streaming service. Enough is enough. My For the Fans Act would stop this exact scenario and prevent Wisconsin families from being forced to pay for Netflix just to watch the Packers play this Thanksgiving,” Sen. Baldwin’s statement read.
Maybe Ms. Baldwin should start rooting for one of these less compelling franchises instead. All of them will at least for now be playing exclusively on Sunday afternoons, though thanks to late-season flex options should one of them actually play above their heads–which does indeed tend to happen in the uber-competitive NFL–they could yet wind up kicking off past dinner time. And indeed their exploits will make up the emphasis behind the increasingly watered-down Sunday Ticket that YouTube will be hawking–and they will be doing so having been at least for the moment shut out of the expanded array of international broadcasts that at one point it was believed they or Netflix had a lock on. At least for now, as FRONT OFFICE SPORTS’ Eric Fisher wrote this morning, that’s apparently a bridge too far for many of Baldwin’s colleagues:
There are at least four different points of legislative and regulatory pressure on the NFL, including an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. While that probe is not expected to produce any charges against the NFL, many leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump have been openly critical of the league’s approach, and criticisms of the league will likely continue.
But don’t you fret about the most popular viewing destination of all, even by the incomplete Luddite measurement standards of Nielsen. Thanks to the creative forces employed by each team, they’re reaping immediate traffic and benefits from the schedule announcement videos for each team that all dropped last night and which accompanied ESPN’s primetime special that served as merely an umbrella for the masses. CBS SPORTS’ Shanna McCarriston was kind enough to curate them–seriously, it’s a rabbit hole more than worth your scurrying down.
And if you find you need even more online interaction feel free to open a browser to your favorite betting website. You can predict how your favorite team will wind up in 2026; yet another BLEACHER (REPORT) creature, Moe Moton, chose to scurry down a waaay deeper rabbit hole and call every single one of the 272 games ahead. If you’re not quite that speculative, you can confine yourself strictly to Week One, as SPORTSBOOK’s Martin Green provided a first look at what will occupy agate type in what newspapers remain and room on sports networks’ bottom line scrolls from now until September 9th.
Sure, a lot can change in 117 days. It always does. Maybe the safest bet is that something significant will move those numbers and that these invested networks and platforms will be johnny-on-the-spot to cover it. For them–and us, the countdown is officially ON.
Courage…