A new NFL season is about to begin this September, kicking off with a Super Bowl rematch and 16 games spread across four days. For affiliates working with Boss Partners, the biggest takeaway may be that American football has now reached 183 million fans outside the U.S.
For years, following the NFL from anywhere outside the United States came with a certain amount of homework. That is no longer the case. In 2026, American football continues its global audience conquest as the league stages a record nine regular-season games across seven countries and four continents.
NFL WEEK 1: Four days of fresh interest
━━━━━━━━━━ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 ━━━━━━━━━━
● New England Patriots @ Seattle Seahawks
↳ Super Bowl LX rematch
Seattle begins its title defence against the team it beat in February.
━━━━━━━━━━ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 ━━━━━━━━━━
● San Francisco 49ers vs Los Angeles Rams
↳ Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia
The first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia.
━━━━━━━━━━ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 ━━━━━━━━━━
● Chicago Bears @ Carolina Panthers
Caleb Williams meets Bryce Young.
● Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Cincinnati Bengals
Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow headline the quarterback matchup.
● New Orleans Saints @ Detroit Lions
● Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans
Josh Allen opens against a Houston side coming off another postseason run.
● Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts
Lamar Jackson starts the new season on the road.
● Cleveland Browns @ Jacksonville Jaguars
● Atlanta Falcons @ Pittsburgh Steelers
● New York Jets @ Tennessee Titans
● Arizona Cardinals @ Los Angeles Chargers
● Miami Dolphins @ Las Vegas Raiders
● Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota Vikings
One of the NFL’s established divisional rivalries arrives immediately.
● Washington Commanders @ Philadelphia Eagles
● Dallas Cowboys @ New York Giants
Two of the league’s best-known franchises get the standalone slot.
━━━━━━━━━━ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 ━━━━━━━━━━
● Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes could make his return against the team that ended Kansas City’s nine-year run as AFC West champions.
NFL picks up right where the Super Bowl left off
The final game of last season was the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots.
So is the first game of this one.
Seattle beat New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Now, it opens its title defence against the same opponent, the first season-opening Super Bowl rematch since 2016.
For affiliates looking for an early NFL story, it doesn’t get better than this. The champions are back, while the New England Patriots get their rematch.
New audiences come packed with affiliate opportunity
On September 10, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams meet at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the first NFL regular-season game held in Australia, placing an international fixture on the second night of the new season.
The official announcement passed 165,000 views on X.
Munich offers a useful comparison. During its NFL game week, NFL Germany’s social channels generated 20 million video views and 3.4 million interactions.
Brazil is building on games held in São Paulo in 2024 and 2025 by adding Rio de Janeiro to the 2026 calendar, with at least three regular-season games planned there over the next five years.
London once carried most of the NFL’s international schedule. In 2026, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City all have dates of their own.
Boss Partners has the full season covered
The Boss Partners portfolio provides full coverage of the NFL, giving affiliates room to work with opening weekend, the international fixtures that follow, and the full 18-week regular season.
Get in touch with Boss and find the right brand for your traffic ahead of Week 1.
