Super Bowl champs Seattle faces an unconventional Week 1 opener. Could Dallas, and their prime-time appeal, be their opponent in this rare mid-week NFL kickoff?
FRISCO - The Seattle Seahawks closed last season.
They are slated to open this season.
And maybe the Dallas Cowboys will be invited to join the party.
The Seahawks took part in the NFL's final game of the 2025 season, where they made quick work of the New England Patriots to claim the franchise's second Super Bowl title.
Now, as is a league tradition, the Seahawks will host the NFL's first game of the following season as the reigning champions ... but not in typical fashion.
It was announced recently that Seattle will host the season's opening game at Lumen Field on Wednesday, Sep. 9. The game will air live on NBC at 5:20 p.m. PT and 7:20 CT.
Why does "7:20 CT'' matter?
Because it makes sense that the Cowboys might be involved.
Yes, the Wednesday draw is an unconventional gameday in the league calendar, but the league is working around the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams - two of the Seahawks' NFC West rivals - who face each other in Week 1 on Thursday evening.
The 49ers and Rams will play in Melbourne, Australia in the first-ever NFL regular-season game staged in that country. That game's kickoff will actually be 10:35 a.m. local time (AEST) Friday Sep. 11, but will air live in the United States at 5:35 p.m. PT (and 7:35 CT) on Thursday, Sep. 10.
In total, there will be nine international games played across seven countries this NFL season.
Last season, the NFL held a game in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Chargers beat Chiefs 27-21) on Friday of Week 1 after the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, 24-20.
Seattle's Week 1 opponent has yet to be announced. The complete schedule is usually announced in May, shortly after the 2026 NFL Draft in late April.
But we do know that Dallas is scheduled to play at the Seahawks this year. And we do know that the NFL is addicted to the revenue generated when the Cowboys are involved in a Week 1 league-season-opener ... or any other "special'' prime-time event.
This will be just the second-ever occurrence of an NFL season kickoff happening on a Wednesday. The first instance was in 2012 when the Cowboys beat the Giants 24-17 in the Meadowlands on Wednesday, Sep. 5.
That game was moved due to President Barack Obama's scheduled speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, the previously-scheduled kickoff date.