The second game will be the first of its kind: the league’s first-ever regular season game Down Under. The Australia Game will take place the night after the Kickoff Game, with the San Francisco 49ers facing the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne.
With the 18-hour time difference between Melbourne and the West Coast, which is where the 49ers vs. Rams game would typically take place, the Australia contest will actually kick off at 10:35 a.m. Melbourne time on Friday. That will allow it to take place at 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday and 5:35 p.m. PT for those fans in The Bay Area and Southern California.
The NFL held its Brazil games each of the last two years on Fridays in Week 1, but that was because those were the first Fridays of September. This year, with the NFL always beginning its season after Labor Day (September 7, 2026), the ensuing Friday is now the second Friday of the month, and thus, the NFL cannot hold any games on that day.
As a result, the NFL in Australia will make its debut—in the United States—on a Thursday, with the league’s annual kickoff game being moved up a day earlier to a Wednesday. This will be just the second time that the league has started its season on a Wednesday. The first came in 2012 between the defending champion New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. That contest was moved from a Thursday to a Wednesday to avoid conflicting with President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Now that we know when the 2026 season will begin, we just need to know Seattle’s opponent. It will be a home game for Seattle, and the Seahawks are slated for nine home contests this upcoming season. But with two of those—the 49ers and Rams—playing the next night, we’re down to seven possible teams.
There’s Arizona, the lone remaining NFC West team, and the Seahawks’ intraconference foes: the Cowboys, Giants, and Bears. The AFC home opponents for the Seahawks will be the Chiefs, Chargers, and Patriots.
So the league could begin the 2026 season with a Super Bowl rematch if Seattle faces New England in Week 1. A potential matchup against the Giants or Chargers is also intriguing, considering that it would match up Seattle coach Mike Macdonald versus either of the Harbaughs, as the former coached under both.
Matchups versus either the Cowboys or Chiefs would also be attractive as those are, arguably, the two most popular teams in the NFL, though Kansas City may not have Patrick Mahomes ready for Week 1. Also, a contest against the Bears has sizzle as Chicago was basically one play away from winning its Divisional Playoff game a year ago and matching up with Seattle in the NFC Championship Game.
So six of the seven potential Week 1 opponents for Seattle carry lots of interest, but it’s that seventh—the Arizona Cardinals—that seems to be the most likely. That’s because the entire rest of the NFC West is beginning its season within those first two days, so it would only be fair if Arizona is then added to that equation so that no NFC West team is advantaged, or disadvantaged, going into Week 2.
The NFL Melbourne Game will be the first of nine international games on this year’s slate, and it’s the only one in which both participants have been announced. The other eight games all have one team that’s been revealed as the designated home team. They are as follows: Rio de Janeiro (Cowboys), Paris (Saints), Munich (Lions), Mexico City (49ers), Madrid (Falcons), and three games in London (Jaguars, twice, and Commanders).
