U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have met on May 14 and May 15 to discuss how each will manage its sphere of global hegemony, but the worldwide church of football fans was far more transfixed on the release of the NFL schedule at 8:00 p.m. on May 14. In its quest to conquer the world, the NFL and its Commissioner, Roger Goodell, continue to expand their influence, strengthen their brand, and grow ever richer. Forget the Stanley Cup playoffs, the chase for the NBA crown, or MLB’s daily list of games; the NFL released its 2026 season schedule on Thursday (May 14), creating a buzz bigger than the other major sports could ever hope for. Beginning on a Wednesday night for the first time in history, the league will open with a Super Bowl rematch as New England visits the champion Seattle Seahawks. One thing about the NFL that everyone can count on: it generates strong interest and provides great discussion among its millions of followers. The schedule release has spawned its own conspiracy theories, and many believe the league possesses insider information as it prepares its schedule. The league so dominates the minds of its boosters that they hang on its every announcement and its offseason manoeuvres and have become addicted to its seasonal presence each fall, which extends into mid-winter. Evidence of this surfaced late Thursday evening after the full schedule became available. Fans took to social media, podcasters dropped new shows, and evening sports programs covered the release with long reports and roundtables.
Worldwide Imprint
In case anyone missed it, the NFL, lodged in 32 American cities, will play a record-breaking nine international games across seven countries and four continents during the 2026 season. The schedule features first-time visits to Melbourne, Australia, and Paris, France, as well as a return to Mexico City. There will be games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; three in London, UK; and one each in Munich, Germany, and Madrid, Spain. The League’s commitment to its global fan base means more money for TV and streaming packages while also ensuring the brand competes with soccer and other sports that are working to create inroads. Hockey’s success at the Olympics and the growing popularity of both basketball and baseball in Asia have forced the NFL to consider ways to sell the game in nations where few people can play American football. Sold-out stadiums, new deals, and return engagements prove that there is an appetite for the game. Look for more international deals in the future, though travel has become challenging for some teams. Regardless, the old Willie Nelson song applies to NFL travel agents more than ever:
I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Travel – I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere.
Games of Interest
Beyond opening night, the schedule makers have tried to create as much excitement and interest as possible. For the first time, the NFL will play a Wednesday night game before Thanksgiving, as Green Bay hosts the LA Rams, the Super Bowl pre-season favourite. Three massive rivalries follow on Thanksgiving Day as the Lions host the Bears, Dallas welcomes Philadelphia, and Kansas City visits Buffalo. Christmas Day also offers a slate of games that will delight fans as the Packers play the Bears, the Bills and Broncos face off, and the Rams host the Seahawks, all rematches from last year’s playoffs.
Prime Time Games
The NFL rewards success, and the cost of failure means fewer prime-time slots. Miami, the Jets, Arizona and Tennessee are all franchises in dire straits and receive no prime-time coverage. New Orleans and Cleveland have one standalone prime-time game this season. The Colts have two, and Jacksonville, Denver, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Carolina, the LA Chargers, and Tampa Bay have three. Minnesota, the Giants, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, and Washington have four. The surprise may be the Giants getting four after several sub-par seasons, but with new coach Jim Harbaugh and two top ten picks, there is a buzz about the team in the league’s biggest city. Teams with five prime-time games include Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, New England, and San Francisco, all seen as Super Bowl contenders. Moving up the rankings, Green Bay, Kansas City, Buffalo, and Seattle, viewed as sure-fire playoff clubs, have six games in the highest-rated period, while the Los Angeles Rams have seven. The Rams are in a massive market and with Matthew Stafford at QB, may have the inside track to becoming Super Bowl champions after falling just short last year.
Conspiracies
In a nation of conspiracies, during a time when conspiratorial theories abound, why should the NFL schedule be any different? Some believe the league has favoured Kansas City with a schedule that will ensure Patrick Mahomes has the earliest potential return, while the team plays a soft schedule until its week five bye, after which Mahomes will certainly be ready, if not earlier. Having Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce back in the headlines would not hurt ratings, and the Chiefs have become a story unto themselves, chasing a dynasty and Mahomes hoping to catch Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowls. Others believe the league’s schedule makers have inside information, such as Aaron Rodgers’ return to Pittsburgh, which explains why the Steelers have prime-time games late in the season.
Travel
With the amount of travel in this year’s schedule, calculating miles flown could mean the difference between getting into the playoff tournament or missing out. The San Francisco 49ers will travel a reported record of 38,305 miles this year, over 30,000 more than Carolina, the team that will travel the least. In fact, the 49ers’ trip to Australia in week one will be more than half a dozen teams’ travel all season. Location determines some of the travel. In the AFC North (made up of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh), most of the teams could drive back and forth, and all are under four hours by car. Other cities are not nearly so close, and the travel can take a toll, especially at the end of a long season.
Rest
An underrated analytic is rest days. Arif Hasan, a football analyst and journalist, did a deep dive into this metric. When examining the sum of net rest days over 17 games, Hasan’s analysis revealed that the LA Chargers are at a significant disadvantage, with a net deficit of 24 rest days when contrasted with the teams on their schedule. The Eagles possess the second-largest disparity at 15 days. On the plus side, Chicago has the best number at a positive 15. It can make a tremendous difference. Last year, five teams had a plus-seven or better rest advantage, including Seattle (14 wins), the Rams (12 wins), the Niners (12 wins), and Detroit (9 wins). The teams with the worst rest advantages were Vegas (3 wins), Washington (5 wins), and New Orleans (6 wins). Make of it what you wish, a lot of analysis goes into the NFL schedule because of fan interest, betting sites, and TV-streaming decisions. Trump and Xi may command their nations, but the NFL owns the hearts of hundreds of millions of fans. With a growing market, the NFL has declared its intention to capture the attention of a global audience. The only question remaining is where next?
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who worked part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar until being appointed Executive Director at Redeemer Bible Church in October 2023. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, earning a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
