Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season will not feature a Friday game due to a little-known federal law.
Last year, the league took advantage of a loophole in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to stage an international game from São Paulo, Brazil.
The NFL scheduled a Friday night game in Brazil for Week 1 of the past two seasonsGettyThe 2025 season will also begin with a game in São Paulo, which pits the Kansas City Chiefs against the Los Angeles Chargers, once again on Friday, in a historic YouTube broadcast.
An international game is an honor for any team, and this year’s match-up in Brazil no doubt benefits both the Chiefs and Chargers, helping them grow their fan bases by contesting a game that will stream free in its entirety across the globe.
But next September, it will be illegal for the NFL to open its season the same way.
Under an antitrust provision in the Sports Broadcasting Act, broadcasts of professional football by any station within 75 miles of a high school or college football game are banned.
The provision specifies that pro games cannot run on any Friday nights (after 6pm) or Saturday from the second Friday in September through to the second Saturday in December.
Therefore, the NFL avoids scheduling anything during those days and times altogether.
Given the Sports Broadcasting Act ban does not kick in until the second week of September, a calendar loophole allowed the league to open their season with Friday night games in 2024 and 2025.
The NFL likes to begin on the first Thursday after Labor Day, and because the holiday has fallen so early in the previous two years, Friday night games have been broadcast during the first week of September.
In 2026, Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7, meaning the following Thursday falls in the second week of the month.
As the Sports Broadcasting Act blackout begins on the second Friday of September, it would be illegal to broadcast an NFL game in that slot.
The NFL does not schedule games on Fridays and Saturdays to avoid clashing with college and high school footballGetty A loophole has allowed the NFL to broadcast a Friday Week 1 game in 2024 and 2025GettyWhy was the Sports Broadcasting Act blackout put in place?
Congress passed the act to help protect high school and college football from direct competition from professional games.
High school games traditionally happen on Friday, while college games pack the Saturday sports schedules.
If a pro league like the NFL ran games at the same time, it would likely reduce attendances and viewership of high school and college football, thus damaging the product.
The Sports Broadcasting Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on September 30, 1961, in response to a US District Court decision which ruled the NFL’s method of negotiating television rights violated antitrust laws.
How many NFL games have been played on Friday since 1961?
Due to the broadcasting legislation, Friday night NFL games are extremely rare, but do date all the way back to September 1970.
That year, the Los Angeles Rams beat the St. Louis Cardinals 34-13 to open the league’s inaugural post-merger season.
Monday Night Football made its debut days after a Friday game in 1970Getty The Chiefs will contest what could be the last Week 1 Friday game for some timeGettyInterestingly, three days later, the first edition of Monday Night Football aired on ABC.
Following the 1970 Friday game, many of the other 13 matches were consequences of the calendar.
NFL-playing holidays, like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, sometimes fall on a Friday, requiring games to be played then.
In 2005, Hurricane Wilma forced an exception to the schedule, and a Miami Dolphins game was rescheduled for a Friday.
While 2026 will not feature a Week 1 Friday game, the NFL has announced that their season will begin with the first-ever regular-season game in Australia.
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“We’re starting the season off over there next year,” commissioner Roger Goodell said back in April.
The Los Angeles Rams are the designated home team for the game, which will be played in Melbourne, and while the schedule has not been set, that game could be played as early as a Wednesday.
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