NFL will dilute product even further by opening season on a Wednesday

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The 2026–27 NFL season will reportedly begin on a Wednesday this year, with the usual Thursday game played in Melbourne, Australia.

Unlike the past two seasons, the league cannot schedule a game on the opening Friday of the season because it falls in the second week of September (not the first). The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prohibits the NFL from broadcasting games from the second Friday in September until the second Saturday in December, protecting both high school and college football from professional competition. 

The Wednesday game will air on NBC, according to Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal, featuring the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks. The Melbourne game will likely be part of a new four-game package the NFL is shopping to a streamer as a result of the league’s equity deal with ESPN.

The package is also expected to include an annual Wednesday game on the night before Thanksgiving. YouTube is believed to be the frontrunner for the new slate.

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But while Americans are reluctant to concede there is such a thing as – wait for it -- too much football, we maintain that the NFL is diluting its product by further stretching out its national schedule.

The added windows have undermined the NFL’s tradition of a robust Sunday slate. Opening weekend is, put simply, not as strong when four teams have already played by Sunday morning. What’s more, 10 teams will have already played by the first Sunday after Thanksgiving.

With games on Wednesday and Thursday, there is simply less excitement for Sunday’s early, afternoon, and prime-time windows. By Monday, Americans will have