2026 NFL Schedule

2026 Schedule Release | Thursday, May 14

NFL Schedule

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The full 2026 NFL regular season schedule powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be released on Thursday, May 14, at 8 p.m. ET. See more detail about the schedule release here.

Ahead of the release of the full 2026 schedule on May 14, the League’s broadcast partners will announce select games throughout the week leading up to the full release. Updates will be listed below as they are released.

2026 Schedule Updates

Week 1

The New York Giants will host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Week 1. The game will kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Sept. 13 at MetLife Stadium. The season opener will mark the eighth time in the past 15 seasons the division rivals will square off to open a campaign. Read the full release here.

Learn more about how the NFL schedule is created.

2026 regular-season opponents

View the 2026 scheduling rotation and team-by-team opponents.

2026 SCHEDULING ROTATION BY DIVISION
AFC EAST	Intraconference	AFC West
	Interconference	NFC North
	17th game	NFC West

AFC NORTH	Intraconference	AFC South
	Interconference	NFC South
	17th game	NFC East

AFC SOUTH	Intraconference	AFC North
	Interconference	NFC East
	17th game	NFC North

AFC WEST	Intraconference	AFC East
	Interconference	NFC West
	17th game	NFC South

NFC EAST	Intraconference	NFC West
	Interconference	AFC South
	17th game	AFC North

NFC NORTH	Intraconference	NFC South
	Interconference	AFC East
	17th game	AFC South

NFC SOUTH	Intraconference	NFC North
	Interconference	AFC North
	17th game	AFC West

NFC WEST	Intraconference	NFC East
	Interconference	AFC West
	17th game	AFC East

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The 2026 regular-season opponents were determined in January. Under the NFL scheduling formula, every team plays 17 games as follows:

Home and away against its three division opponents (six games).
The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating, three-year cycle (four games).
The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating, four-year cycle (four games).
Two intraconference opponents based on the prior year’s standings (two games). These games match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place and fourth-place teams in a conference are matched in the same way each year.
One interconference opponent based on the prior year’s standings on a rotating four-year cycle (one game). These games match a first-place team from one division against a first-place team in an opposite-conference division that the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place and fourth-place teams in each division are matched in the same way each year. The home conference for this game will rotate.

View the full list of 2026 opponents.

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