Last week, the NFL announced that the world champion Seattle Seahawks will open up the 2026 season on Wednesday, Sept. 9. That game will begin at 5:20 p.m. PT and will feature all the pomp and circumstance that comes with NFL Opening Night for defending champions.

The Seahawks do not know their opponent yet, but they will raise the championship banner from 2025 - the second title in team history.

We knew that this scheduling announcement would likely force the hands of the Seattle Mariners, who were scheduled to play the Texas Rangers at 6:40 p.m. PT that night.

On Thursday morning, it did. The Mariners have moved their game to 1:10 p.m. PT to accommdate the NFL schedule.

For the fans? This is an absolutely win-win move. Fans who want to watch both games now get the chance to and fans who want to go to both games now get the chance to also.

Furthermore, it's a win for fans with regards to public transportation and roadways. The Sound Transit Lite Rail will be more clear, as will the roads and parking lots around the ballpark and Lumen Field.

Last October, the Seahawks played a 1:05 p.m. PT game while the Mariners played at 5:08 p.m. PT in the American League Division Series. Games happening on the same day is not the problem, it's them happening at almost the same time.

If the Mariners had kept the game at night, there's a large chance that the ballpark crowd would have been impacted by fans who elected to stay home and watch the Seahawks anyways, but that said, the Mariners are likely to take a financial hit by doing this.

This is now a mid-week day game AFTER the school year has started. It doesn't figure to be well-attended and will certainly impact the Mariners revenue. Most fans don't care about that, but you know the organization does.

Look, don't get me wrong. I love the NFL and I love the Seahawks. I'm excited to have the Seahawks play in primetime and to have them raise the banner.

That said, I HATE that the NFL comes in and just bullies the MLB schedule. The Mariners are off on Thursday, Sept. 10: The NFL absolutely could have had the Seahawks open up on that day, as is customary.

Instead, they are making the Seahawks play Wednesday so they can showcase the first game in Australia on that Thursday.

It seems totally unnecessary. But I digress.

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