At some point this month, the 2026 NFL schedule is going to be released, but right now, no one seems to know when that’s actually going to happen.
The league seems to be targeting a date between May 12 and 14, but the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning, Mike North, recently admitted that the release could certainly be pushed back a week, which would put it somewhere between May 19 and 21.
The NFL has been unusually quiet about when the schedule might come out, but sometimes, no news can be good news. According to CNBC’s Alexander Sherman, the NFL is still on track to release the schedule on May 13 or 14.
“I’m told the NFL plans to announce its full 2026 schedule next week on Wednesday or Thursday,” Sherman wrote on May 7.
Sherman noted that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell plans to be in attendance for Disney’s upfront presentation on Tuesday, and if he’s going to be there, you’d have to think that he’d want to make sure the schedule is finalized by that point.
Although the NFL hasn’t declared a release date yet, delaying the announcement of the release date for as long as possible has been standard protocol for the league in two of the past three years. In 2023, the NFL declared on May 8 that the schedule would be released on May 11. In 2024, the league declared on May 13 that the schedule would be released on May 15, so the NFL could conceivably wait until Monday to make an announcement about the schedule release.
Why the delay rumors have been swirling
There’s been a lot of speculation that the schedule could be delayed and that was because North revealed that the release could potentially be pushed back a week this year.
“Most fans know full well that the schedule comes out in mid-May now,” North reported on the “It’s Always Game Day in Buffalo” podcast. “That’s what we’ve done the last five or six years. That’s sort of our target. Is there any magic to May 12, 13, 14? No. Is there any real downside to [May] 19, 20 or 21? No.”
Last year, the schedule release date was declared during the first night of the NFL Draft. That announcement came on April 24 and the release eventually came on May 14, so fans had nearly three weeks to prepare. This year, fans might not even be getting a week to prepare.
The NFL did drop several promos about the 2026 schedule release during the draft, but the league didn’t offer a specific date for when the schedule might come out.
The NFL schedule actually used to come out in April, but the league had to push the release to May in 2020 due to COVID and that’s where it’s been ever since. The schedule usually comes out on the second Wednesday or second Thursday of May, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented for the league to push it slightly farther out. The schedule came out on the third Wednesday of May in 2024 and that May 15 date is still the just in that the schedule has ever been released.
“I don’t think it’s coming out in June, but that second week in May has been our target the last few years, but I I don’t know that it’s impossible to think about that third week in May,” North reported.
Things that can delay the schedule
There are multiple things that can slow down the schedule-making process, and this year, one of those things is that the NFL is trying to sell a five-game package. The new package would include the Australia game in Week 1 (49ers-Rams), a potential Thanksgiving eve game, a second Black Friday game, a Christmas Eve game and one other game, according to PFT.
“These five games that are out there as a package that are being negotiated right now, love to know when, where those games are going to be played so we can schedule them accordingly,” North reported.
Front Office Sports stated on April 16 that YouTube was in “advanced” talks to land those five games, so it’s certainly possible that wrinkle has been ironed out by now.
North then mentioned several things that could potentially push back the release date of the schedule.
“If those negotiations drag on a little bit longer,” North reported of the YouTube deal. “Maybe something happens in the draft that surprises us, somebody gets traded — a quarterback, a big name — something different at the top of the draft and we need an extra couple of days to adjust and react to it.”
The good news for NFL fans is that although the draft was mostly unpredictable, there weren’t too many trades or picks that would require the league to go back and re-do the schedule, which is why next week still seems like the smart bet for the release.
Part of the reason that the NFL is targeting the second week in May (May 13 or 14) is because that’s what fans are used to.
“I don’t think there’s any real magic to second or third week in May, but, NFL fans know what our calendar is and it’s been that second week in May for at least the last five years,” North reported.
So why can’t the league just give us a date? Well, because if the NFL reported the schedule was going to be released on May 14 and then it wasn’t ready to go on May 14, that would be a problem. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has to sign off on the final version of the schedule before the league announces a release date.
“It doesn’t get finalized until the commissioner of the National Football League says it’s finalized,” North reported. “That’s why I’m being coy about the date. I don’t know the date. None of us know the date yet because we don’t know when we’re going to walk into the boss’s office and present him one. And he’s going to say, ‘That’s perfect. Ready to go. Send it out to the world.'”
If Goodell doesn’t like any of the schedules being presented, he’s not going to approve one just to make sure the NFL can hit a target release date.
“If we walk in there on May 11th or 12th and he’s not happy with where we are, he’ll send us back downstairs and we’ll lock ourselves back in the room and we’ll keep grinding until we find something he likes,” North reported. “And if it slides to the 18th, 19th or 20th, the world will keep spinning. I’m sure at some point he’s going to say, ‘All right you morons, I’m not giving you any more time. We got to go.’ I hope it doesn’t get to that point.”
It only takes one small issue to throw a wrench into the schedule-making process, and this year, it wouldn’t be surprising if Aaron Rodgers is slowing things down. Last year, North admitted that Rodgers’ free agent decision was going to have an impact on the schedule and the same thing could be happening this year.
The Steelers are a team that will always get their fair share of primetime games, but they become much more attractive from a TV standpoint with Rodgers at quarterback versus Mason Rudolph or Will Howard or Drew Allar. The good news for the NFL is that the Rodgers situation will likely be resolved soon with the QB heading to Pittsburgh to work out a deal with the Steelers.
As North reported, fans are used to the second week in May, so the NFL is likely going to do its best to make sure the schedule comes out on May 13 or 14.
The 2026 schedule will feature 272 games and although we don’t know the time or date for most of those games just yet, we do know who each team will be playing and you can check out the home-and-away opponents for all 32 teams by clicking here.
