The NFL Is Back: Seattle Opens Its Title Defense as the 2026 Season Goes Global

The National Football League returned this month, opening its 2026 season with a familiar champion and an unusually global schedule. As the games kicked off, the reigning titleholder set out to defend its crown while the league pushed further than ever beyond American borders in search of new fans.

A champion opens the season

The season began on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, with the traditional Kickoff Game. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle hosted New England, and according to league records, the home side won a tight contest by a score of 13 to 10 in front of its own supporters.

The matchup carried extra weight because it was a rematch of Super Bowl LX, the title game that Seattle had won over the same New England side. Opening the year against the team it beat for the championship gave the game an added competitive edge from the very first snap.

A record run of international games

One of the defining features of the 2026 season is how far the league is spreading its games around the world. The NFL scheduled nine international contests, a record for the league, taking regular season football to fans across several different continents.

The list of host countries is striking. Games were set for Australia, Brazil, England, France, Spain, Germany, and Mexico, with Australia and France welcoming NFL regular season games for the first time in their history, a notable step in the league's global expansion.

The Australian debut came quickly. On September 11, in Melbourne, San Francisco defeated the Los Angeles Rams in the country's first ever regular season NFL game, a milestone moment for the sport in that part of the world and a sign of its growing reach.

How the season is structured

For those less familiar with the format, the NFL is made up of 32 teams, each playing a 17 game regular season spread across 18 weeks. Every team receives one week off, known as a bye, at some point during the long schedule to rest and recover.

That structure means the league builds slowly toward its climax, with each week of results shaping the race for the playoffs and, ultimately, a coveted place in the Super Bowl the following February, the sport's biggest single occasion.

A calendar full of marquee dates

Beyond the international slate, the 2026 schedule is dotted with signature occasions. The league lined up five Thanksgiving games, and for the first time that holiday tradition includes a game on the Wednesday before, according to league information about the season.

The festive season brings more football still, with four games scheduled around Christmas and Saturday doubleheaders planned for the final weeks of the regular season, giving fans an unusually steady stream of matchups late in the calendar year.

The road to Super Bowl LXI

All of it builds toward the championship. Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for February 14, 2027, which according to league records is the latest date the NFL has ever held its title game, a reflection of the longer and more crowded modern calendar.

That later than usual finish stretches the road to the championship deeper into the new year than fans have been used to in the past, extending the drama of the playoff race well beyond the point where the season traditionally ended.

What to watch this year

With Seattle beginning its title defense and a crowded field of contenders lined up behind it, the storylines are already taking shape. The opening weeks will offer the first clues about which teams have improved, which have slipped, and which newcomers might surprise the league.

For now, the return of the NFL brings with it the familiar rhythms of the American football calendar, along with a clear sense that the league is thinking bigger than ever. Between a champion defending its title and games staged on the other side of the world, the 2026 season has begun with plenty to follow.