Champion Seahawks to kick off 2026 NFL season on a Wednesday

The Seattle Seahawks will begin the first step in their defense of their Super Bowl title on a Wednesday as opposed to the traditional Thursday opener to the NFL's regular season.

The NFL has yet to announce an opponent for the Seahawks, who will host the 2026 opener on Sept. 9.

Seattle is playing one day earlier than usual because of the league's first-ever regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia, pitting the Los Angeles Rams against the NFC West-rival San Francisco 49ers.

The Australia game will take place Friday, Sept. 11 at 10:35 a.m. local time in Melbourne, which is Thursday, Sept. 10 at 8:35 p.m. ET in the United States.

"We are thrilled to kick off our season in Melbourne, enhancing an already historic moment for both the NFL and the Rams," said Stephanie Cheng, Rams head of international. "Every time members of our organization visit, including earlier this month, we see first hand the growing excitement from folks across Melbourne in anticipation of this game.

"Not only will it be special playing the 49ers on a Friday morning in Australia, it also will be great for our fans back at home to be able to watch this matchup in primetime on Thursday night."

The NFL will be opening its season on a Wednesday for the first time since 2012. That year, the New York Giants kicked off the festivities against the Dallas Cowboys on a Wednesday as a means to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention.

In addition to the game at Australia, the NFL will play international games at London, England (three games), Madrid, Spain, Mexico City, Munich, Germany, Paris, France, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.