The most ambitious NFL season in history kicks off on Wednesday with a Super Bowl rematch, an unprecedented global schedule and a clutch of contenders plotting to dethrone the Seattle Seahawks.
Seven months after Seattle defeated the New England Patriots to win their second Super Bowl crown, the two teams meet again on Wednesday to launch a sprawling 2026 campaign that will play out across seven countries in four continents. The Rams are chasing a repeat of their 2022 Super Bowl triumph in front of their home fans in Los Angeles, with the climactic game of the season returning to the SoFi Stadium next February. The Denver Broncos look well placed to build on their promising 2025 campaign, when the team finished with a 14-3 record but saw their playoff hopes derailed by an injury to quarterback Bo Nix. The now traditional slate of fixtures in London will be followed by the first ever NFL regular season game in France on October 25, when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France in Paris. The league has already voted to increase the number of games outside the United States to 10 in 2027, while NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last month rekindled the age-old debate about the eventual establishment of an overseas franchise.
The first of those fixtures will see the Los Angeles Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne on Thursday the first ever NFL game to be staged in Australia.
Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business and international and league events, said the league had based its international expansion on “fan data, fan engagement and strategic opportunity in the market.”
