NFL says its following fan interest with midweek games

This season’s Wednesday night opening game might seem like a bold foray for the NFL, playing on a day not traditionally associated with pro football. But fans might need to get used to it.

Increased ratings and the league’s focus on holiday seasons might well lead to more games on nontraditional days in the future, NFL officials said Friday.

In addition to the Sept. 9 opener that features a Super Bowl rematch between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, there will be a Wednesday night Thanksgiving Eve matchup with the Green Bay Packers visiting the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25.

“Giving more football to NFL fans is only a good thing,” NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder said.

The NFL enjoyed a 10% jump in ratings last season, with the 18.7 million viewers per game representing the second-highest average since the data began being tracked in 1988. That has emboldened the NFL to push the limits of traditional scheduling.

“Every one of our [broadcast] partners was up,” Schroeder said of the 2025 season. “So I think as we look at balancing the collective distribution of our games, we think there’s opportunities to build on that in a selective way. And we’ve seen when we do that, our fans tune in and watch it.”

The NFL can’t play on Friday night in Week 1 until 2029 because of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that prohibits the league from televising games on that evening starting with the second Friday of September. The Friday of Week 1 will be on the second Friday of September again in 2027 and 2028.

Schroeder emphasized that most games are still in the traditional windows when NFL games have historically been played.

“I think you look across the games and the landscape and the schedule, and certainly it’s evolved a little bit, but the bulk of the games are still on Sunday,” Schroeder said.

As for the holiday season, the NFL did not hold back in its 2026 schedule, which was released Thursday.

Thanksgiving week will feature games on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday. And the league believes it has maximized Christmas week with one game on Christmas Eve, three games on Christmas, a sizable Sunday slate and a Monday night matchup.

“We’re probably stretched about as thinly as we can go that week,” said Mike North, NFL vice president of broadcasting planning. “… We’re making a conscious decision to stay strong, be big in those windows. Fans vote with their remotes. They’ve shown us an interest in watching NFL games on Christmas.”

Mahomes not factor in Chiefs’ scheduling, NFL says

The NFL’s decision to put the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime windows the first two weeks of the season wasn’t meant to be a hint on how fast quarterback Patrick Mahomes will recover from knee surgery.

Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee Dec. 14 and has said his goal is to be back in time for Week 1. The Chiefs host the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 14 and play the Indianapolis Colts at home on Sunday night in Week 2.

“We didn’t know anything more than anyone else,” Schroeder said.

Coach Andy Reid told NFL Network on Friday that the league didn’t talk to him about Mahomes’ status but that he is encouraged by what he has seen early in the offseason program.

“He’s doing great right now, and that’s kind of how you gotta go about this,” Reid said. “People go, ‘Well, he’s ahead of schedule.’ Who made the schedule? Everybody’s different. Let’s just take it day by day. Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing.”

Schroeder said he was “excited” about Reid’s comments and said the Chiefs remained a popular team among the broadcasters as evidenced by their six primetime games, including a Thanksgiving night showdown against the Buffalo Bills that is typically one of the most-anticipated matchups of the season.

Kansas City, which went 6-11 and missed the playoffs last season after making three straight Super Bowl trips, also has five games slotted in the high-profile late afternoon Sunday doubleheader window.

“The Chiefs are an incredible story,” Schroeder said. “They’re one of the most popular teams in the league right now. They’ve been on an incredibly successful run for a number of years now and have built a hugely popular fanbase. We went into the year planning to play the Chiefs in the same number of windows. We didn’t know anything more than then you did, but we’re certainly hoping Patrick would be back Week 1.”

Not ready for primetime

The days of every NFL team being guaranteed a primetime slot are in the past, with five teams failing to get a game in one of those high-profile windows this season.

The Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets were all given no primetime games in the initial schedule. They are five of the bottom six in terms of odds to win the Super Bowl this season after the Dolphins won seven games last season and the other four went 3-14.

Barring one of the teams getting flexed into a primetime window late in the season, this would be the first time since 2011 that five teams didn’t get a single primetime game. None of those five teams has an island game in another window either.

Even the addition of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and first overall pick Fernando Mendoza wasn’t enough to get the Raiders into primetime.

This marks the second straight season that the team that picked a quarterback No. 1 overall didn’t make primetime, with the Titans getting no games last season after taking Cam Ward first overall.

“Not to be flippant, but we don’t draft our way into primetime. We play our way into primetime,” North said.

Rest disparity

The issue of rest disparity has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, even though the NFL says its data shows the focus is overblown.

This season has a few major outliers with both the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles playing four games against teams coming off bye weeks, while 14 teams don’t do it even once. The Raiders and Los Angeles Rams each have three games against teams coming off a bye.

The Chargers will have 22 fewer days of rest than their opponents this season, the biggest discrepancy since the 2012 Eagles were at minus-23, according to ESPN.

“Rest disparity is not a thing,” North said. “You do not have a competitive advantage when you’re coming off your bye. You certainly don’t have a competitive advantage when you’re one day or two day or three days more well rested. If that data suggests that there’s a there, we will adjust.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.