As Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks traditionally open the season—and now their opponent has been confirmed: it will be a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots.

The NFL has announced the schedule for the 2026 season—and the opening game alone promises to be a spectacle: On Wednesday, September 9, the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots will face off in the NFL Kickoff Game.

It is a rematch of Super Bowl LX—a good seven months after Seattle claimed the title against New England.

The game will take place at Lumen Field in Seattle and is scheduled to kick off at 8:20 p.m. local time (2:20 a.m. CET).

NFL season kicks off on a Wednesday

It is unusual for the game to fall on a Wednesday: The last time the NFL season kicked off on a Wednesday was in 2012—at that time due to President Barack Obama’s nomination speech at the Democratic National Convention.

This time, it marks the league’s debut in Australia: The following Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers will play the first regular-season NFL game in Melbourne, which is why the season opener was moved up by one day.

The Seahawks won Super Bowl LX 29–13, claiming their second Lombardi Trophy—fans will celebrate the championship banner presentation before kickoff in Seattle.

NFL Executive Hans Schroeder explained that the league deliberately chose this matchup: “We thought it was a great opportunity to open the season with a game between the two best teams from last season.”

This is only the second time in NFL history that a direct Super Bowl rematch has kicked off the season. The last time was in 2016, when the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers again in Week 1.