Did NFL make the wrong call opening season with Patriots vs. Seahawks?
USA TODAY Sports’ NFL experts discuss why the league may have missed the mark opening the season with a Super Bowl rematch between New England and Seattle.
Sports Seriously
How much is too much?
It’s the question that continues to swirl following the release of the 2026 NFL schedule. After all, the schedule looks notably different than the ones that came before it. Only Tuesday was spared from the calendar this year, with games slated to be held on the other six days of the week. That increase in standalone games has gotten the attention of fans, as well as a former Philadelphia Eagles center – and not for good reason.
On the May 20 episode of the “New Heights” podcast, Jason Kelce said he feels like the league is drifting away from Sunday being the most important day of the football week.
“Sunday is the day of football,” Kelce said. “Outside of going to church in the morning, if you’re still religious and do that, Sunday is where so many games happen and and that’s what you grow up and you gear your entire week around watching football on Sunday.
“It’s an institution at this point, the NFL playing games on Sunday. With every day that we keep adding in there, we’re getting away from that just a little bit. And I worry that I think the game got big. One of the reasons it got so popular and big was because all of the games, it was an event. Sunday is the NFL and everybody set their week apart to tune in to their games that were happening on Sunday and you’re watching kind of all of them.”
Kelce added that he worries the league is getting away from that as they continue to expand the calendar beyond the traditional days.
The league will kick off the season on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in 2026, despite normally opening on a Thursday. Instead, that Thursday contest will take place in Australia as the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers meet in an NFC West clash.
Yet it also extends beyond Week 1 in Kelce’s eyes, who pointed out that the NFL scheduled games for the night before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas this season.
One person Kelce wasn’t winning over in this discussion was his brother, Travis, who had a different perspective on the topic.
“I think it’s awesome,” Travis said. “I honestly do. As somebody who’s played on Christmas, who’s played on Christmas Eve, who’s played on Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving, who’s played in a lot of like awkward short week moments, I think it’s fun.
“And I don’t think it’s, you know, as taxing as it may seem because it’s the NFL. You’re living out your dream. If there’s a chance to play on a (expletive) primetime game, which all these one-off games are that aren’t on Sunday, I’m (expletive) getting so excited for those opportunities because those are the opportunities you really get to show yourself.”
The schedule saturation has become a major debate this offseason amongst fans, players and media. Ratings, injuries, revenue and more will ultimately determine who was right in the end.
