A rematch of Super Bowl LX will kick off the 2026-27 NFL season.
The Seattle Seahawks will host the New England Patriots as the first game of the upcoming NFL season, according to a report by NFL insider Jordan Schultz. The game will be played on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and air on NBC. It is the first time in 10 years that the NFL will open its season with a rematch of the prior season’s Super Bowl. The last time the league chose to lead with a Super Bowl rematch was the Denver Broncos hosting the Carolina Panthers seven months after Super Bowl 50.
Sources: The #Seahawks will open the 2026 season at home with a Super Bowl rematch against the #Patriots.
So, the 2026 NFL season will begin with the two teams that ended last season. 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/IdRS8MbEK1
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 13, 2026
This year’s NFL Kickoff will be the first to occur on a Wednesday since 2012, when the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants played a day earlier than normal to avoid conflict with President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The past several years, the NFL has tried to begin the season with a bang. Last season, the league had the ratings-darlings Dallas Cowboys play the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, The year prior, the NFL opened with the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, a rematch of the previous season’s AFC title game. And the year before that, the Chiefs opened up against the upstart Detroit Lions, who upset Patrick Mahomes and Co.
Whether or not the Wednesday start impacts viewership for the game is yet to be seen, though, given how starved football fans will be for NFL action, it’s unlikely to make much of a difference.