The next NFL season could begin on a Wednesday — and in Australia, rather than Seattle.
The NFL is planning to open its season on Wednesday, September 9, based on reporting Thursday by John Ourand of Puck, marking just the second time that the league has opened its season on a Wednesday. (The 2012 season opened on a Wednesday to avoid conflicting with the final night of a political convention.)
According to Ourand, the NFL plans to schedule its 49ers-Rams International Series game from Melbourne, Australia, for Week 1 of the season, as it did with its Brazil games the past two years. But while the Brazil games were both scheduled for the Friday of Week 1, that date this year falls during the period that the NFL is prohibited from scheduling Friday night games under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
NFL executive Hans Schroeder confirmed earlier this year that the league would not schedule a Friday night game in Week 1 this season.
With Friday unavailable, Ourand reported Thursday that the Melbourne game will take place either on the Wednesday or Thursday of Opening Week. Whichever date the Melbourne game is scheduled will determine when the Kickoff Game, hosted by the defending champion Seahawks, takes place. Regardless of the order, it would seem based on Ourand’s sources that the next NFL season will begin with back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the event that the season begins with the Melbourne game, it would mark just the third time since 2004 that the NFL season does not open at the home of the defending Super Bowl champions. After the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013, they were unable to host the Kickoff Game the following season due to a conflict with the Orioles. And in 2019, the league abandoned the Super Bowl champion tradition altogether, instead scheduling a Packers-Bears game in commemoration of its 100th season.
As with the two Brazil games, the NFL has put rights to the Melbourne game on the market, and Ourand reported that the league is “negotiating with streaming companies” for the rights. Peacock won rights to the first Brazil game and YouTube acquired the second. One imagines that the rights will be even more coveted in the event that the game is the first of the NFL season.