Seahawks to open NFL regular season Wednesday of Week 1

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Mar 25, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — The NFL announced Wednesday that the Seattle Seahawks, the league’s defending Super Bowl champions, will open the season at home on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the regular-season opener for the league.

The league did not name an opponent but did announce the date and time — a 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff — and TV designation (NBC). The game is expected to be preceded by the raising of the Super Bowl banner commemorating Seattle’s 29-13 win over the New England Patriots last month, the second title in the Seahawks’ 50-year history.

The opponent will be announced with the rest of the NFL schedule this spring.

The date of the Seahawks’ game had been in question because the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will play on Friday morning, Sept. 11, in Melbourne, Australia — a game that will air in the U.S. on Thursday night, Sept. 10.

The defending Super Bowl champion has typically hosted a game on Thursday to open the NFL season but is moving Seattle’s game up a day to accommodate the Australia game.

According to NFL research, it will be just the fifth NFL game played on a Wednesday since 1950 — all occurring since 2012.

The most recent were two Christmas Day games in 2024 and a game moved to a Wednesday in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The season opener in 2012 between the Dallas Cowboys and the defending champion New York Giants was also moved to a Wednesday due to the Democratic National Convention and a speech by Barack Obama scheduled for that Thursday night.

There are seven possible opponents for Seattle’s opener with the 49ers and Rams obviously ruled out since they are playing the following day in Australia.

The other home opponents for Seattle in 2026 are the Arizona Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, Chicago Bears and Patriots.

Most speculation has centered on New England, as a rematch of the Super Bowl; Dallas, due to its historic name value and TV audience draw; and Chicago, as a team expected to again contend for a playoff berth in 2026 after a breakout season in 2025 under first-year coach Ben Johnson.

Seattle also hosted the NFL regular-season opener in 2014 as the defending Super Bowl champs, beating the Green Bay Packers, 36-16.

The Wednesday game will also mean the Seahawks will become just the ninth NFL team to have played a game on every day of the week, according to Seahawks.com. The Seahawks played a game on a Friday night in 1985 against Denver at the Kingdome during a period when the NFL briefly experimented with playing some games on Friday and also played a game against the Rams in Los Angeles on Tuesday in 2021 due to COVID-19 complications.

Seahawks re-sign Surratt

The Seahawks on Wednesday announced they had re-signed linebacker and special teams standout Chazz Surratt. It had earlier been reported that he had agreed to return on a one-year deal.

Surratt’s signing means all of the players who had been reported as agreeing to contracts with Seattle have now officially signed.

Surratt signed with the Seahawks on Aug. 28, 2025, two days after he had been released by the 49ers, and played in 11 games and made 11 tackles on special teams, second-most of any Seahawk.

He suffered an ankle injury in late November, was placed on Injured Reserve and did not see action in the postseason.

Surratt entered the league as a third-round pick of the Vikings in 2021 out of North Carolina and started five games for the Jets in 2024.

He’ll be expected to have a similar role in 2026, serving as depth at the inside-linebacker spots — he was officially listed as a third-team middle linebacker on the team’s depth chart last season — and playing on special teams.

“We have a great team, great culture here,” Surratt told Seahawks.com. “So excited to be back with the guys and get back to work … The brotherhood, just going to play for each other.”

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