NFL Games Today: Is There an NFL Game on TV Friday? Week 1 Viewing Schedule

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Are there NFL games on TV Friday? Here’s the Week 1 viewing schedule, including when the remaining games will be played and how to watch.

There is no NFL game on the schedule tonight, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, and a decades-old federal law explains why.

A pair of Week 1 games are already in the books, with the NFL playing games on Wednesday and Thursday, but nothing is on tap for Friday. Why not? The reason traces back to a 1961 law.

Technically, the NFL did play on Friday this week. San Francisco throttled the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the league’s international opener at Melbourne Cricket Ground, a game that kicked off Friday morning in Australia but aired Thursday night, Sept. 10, on Netflix.

Before that, the Seattle Seahawks got past a stumbling New England Patriots team 13-10. That game was played on Wednesday, Sept. 9, allowing Thursday’s window to host the Melbourne kickoff. See below for the full, remaining NFL Week 1 schedule with complete broadcast and live streaming information.

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Why the NFL Avoids Friday Night Games

The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 grants the NFL an antitrust exemption to sell its television package as one bundle, but that protection disappears if the league airs a game on a Friday after 6 p.m. or on any Saturday between the second Friday in September and the second Saturday in December, according to the text of the statute itself.

Congress built the blackout to shield high school and college football, and because nearly every American media market sits within 75 miles of a Friday-night high school game each fall, the league treats the window as an effective nationwide ban, according to The Athletic’s 2026 NFL schedule rundown.

NFL Chief Operating Officer Hans Schroeder said last year the league would not schedule a Friday game in Week 1 of 2026 because Labor Day fell on Sept. 7, pushing the following Friday inside the protected calendar.

The last full Friday-night game came Sept. 5, 2025, when the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-21 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a game exempt from the blackout under international scheduling rules, according to ESPN’s recap.

The league still finds workarounds. Black Friday games kicking off at 3 p.m. ET and wrapping before the 6 p.m. cutoff have become a late-November staple, with Denver set to visit Pittsburgh on Nov. 27, according to a Sports Illustrated report on NFL Black Friday football.

How to Watch the Rest of NFL Week 1

The schedule resumes Sunday with CBS and Fox splitting regional doubleheaders at 1 p.m. and 4:25 p.m. ET, before the Dallas Cowboys visit the New York Giants at 8:20 p.m. on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, according to CBS Sports’ full slate of kickoff times.

Monday closes the week with the Denver Broncos at the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and ABC, a matchup of AFC West Division rivals. The Broncos dethroned the Chiefs last season after Kansas City had reigned over the division for nine straight years.

Streaming options include Paramount+ for CBS games, Peacock for Sunday night, the ESPN app for Monday night, and NFL+ for local broadcasts and out-of-market mobile viewing.

The first Amazon Prime Video Thursday Night Football game of the season arrives Sept. 17, when the Detroit Lions visit the Buffalo Bills to christen Highmark Stadium, according to the league’s own announcement of the Lions-Bills opener.

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