On Thursday night, the NFL announced the schedule for the 2025 season, which kicks off on Thursday night, September 4, when the world champion Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys.
For the fifth consecutive year, the 2025 NFL schedule will feature each team playing 17 regular-season games and three preseason games.
Here are some highlights of the 2025 NFL schedule:
Week 1:
On Friday, September 5 (8 p.m. ET, YouTube/YouTube TV), the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers will meet at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil. This will be the second-ever regular-season NFL game to be played in South America. It will also mark the first NFL game to be streamed live and for free in its entirety exclusively on YouTube.
Week 1 continues on Sunday, September 7, with three divisional games in the 1 p.m. ET window, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit the Atlanta Falcons, the Cincinnati Bengals visit the Cleveland Browns, and the Washington Commanders host the New York Giants. Six of the eight teams participating in the late window on Kickoff Weekend presented by YouTube TV won at least 10 games last season. On FOX at 4:05 p.m. ET, Denver hosts Tennessee while San Francisco visits Seattle, and on CBS at 4:25 p.m. ET, Detroit visits Green Bay and the Los Angeles Rams host Houston.
Later that day, NBC’s Sunday Night Football begins with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens visiting Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills (8:20 p.m. ET) in a rematch of last season’s AFC Divisional round. NBC will televise one game each Sunday night in Weeks 1-17 and feature Cincinnati at Baltimore (8:20 p.m. ET) on Thanksgiving night.
Kickoff Weekend concludes on Monday, September 8, with ESPN/ABC’s Monday Night Football, featuring the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Chicago Bears (8:15 p.m. ET). YouTube TV is the presenting sponsor of Kickoff Weekend, inclusive of the entire Thursday through Monday slate.
Monday Night Football:
ESPN will televise one game each Monday night in Weeks 1-17 and will be simulcast on ABC in Weeks 1-3, 5, 7-11, and 14. In Weeks 2 and 7, two Monday night games will be broadcast at 7 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET. In Weeks 4 and 6, there will be two Monday night games with broadcasts at 7:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and 8:15 p.m. ET on ABC.
Additionally, ESPN/ABC will air two games with playoff implications on the Saturday of Week 18, January 3, at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET. These games will be selected following the conclusion of Week 17.
Thursday Night Football and Black Friday:
Thursday Night Football will air exclusively on Prime Video, kicking off its slate in Week 2 with Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers hosting Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders (8:15 p.m. ET). Prime Video will broadcast 15 Thursday Night Football games between Weeks 2-17 (excluding Thanksgiving night and including Christmas) and exclusively stream the third annual NFL Black Friday game when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Chicago Bears in Week 13 (3 p.m. ET).
Christmas Day:
For the second consecutive season, Netflix will stream two NFL games on Christmas Day in Week 17, as the Dallas Cowboys visit the Washington Commanders (1 p.m. ET) and the Minnesota Vikings host the Detroit Lions (4:30 p.m. ET).
International Games:
The NFL schedule features seven international games, the most ever in a season. Along with three games in the UK and one in Brazil, the NFL will play the first regular-season game in three new cities in 2025: Berlin (Germany), Dublin (Ireland), and Madrid (Spain).
The international slate begins in Week 1 in Brazil with Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers (8 p.m. ET, YouTube) and follows with games in four consecutive weeks, beginning in Dublin at Croke Park in Week 4 with the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network). In Week 5, Minnesota will become the first team to play in consecutive international games in different countries when they meet the Cleveland Browns (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. In Week 6, the Denver Broncos and New York Jets (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) will meet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before the London action shifts to Wembley Stadium in Week 7, when the Jacksonville Jaguars will play the Los Angeles Rams (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network).
The NFL will continue the international slate of games with the first-ever regular season game in Berlin in Week 10 as the Atlanta Falcons meet the Indianapolis Colts (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) at the Olympic Stadium Berlin. The international schedule will conclude the following week with the first-ever regular-season game in Madrid, Spain when the Miami Dolphins take on the Washington Commanders (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) at the Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid C.F.
Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving will feature a tripleheader on Thursday, November 27. The first game will match a pair of NFC North foes as the Packers travel to Detroit to face the Lions (1 p.m. ET, FOX). At 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS, the Kansas City Chiefs will visit the Dallas Cowboys, followed by an AFC North matchup between Baltimore and Cincinnati on NBC (8:20 p.m. ET) to close out the Thanksgiving Day festivities.
Week 18:
The regular season will conclude with Week 18 on Saturday, January 3, and Sunday, January 4. For the 16th consecutive year, all 16 games scheduled for the final week of the season are division contests,
As in prior seasons, for Week 18, the season’s final weekend, the scheduling of the Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night games are not assigned. In Week 18, two games will be played on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET), with the remainder to be played on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. ET and 4:25 p.m. ET) and one matchup to be played on Sunday night (8:20 p.m. ET). Specific dates, start times, and networks for Week 18 matchups will be determined and announced following the conclusion of Week 17.
Scheduling Notes:
The NFL’s 32 teams will each play 17 games over 18 weeks. Byes will begin in Week 5 and end in Week 14.
Fifteen games will be Super Bowl rematches, and 12 games are rematches from the 2024 playoffs, including Super Bowl LIX (Philadelphia at Kansas City in Week 2), both Championship Games (Kansas City at Buffalo in Week 9; Philadelphia and Washington in Weeks 16 and 18) and each of the four Divisional playoff games (Baltimore at Buffalo in Week 1; Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia in Week 3; Detroit at Washington in Week 10; Houston at Kansas City in Week 14).
The NFL will continue to use “flexible scheduling” this season to ensure exciting and meaningful games are available for viewing by the largest number of fans.
Playoffs/Super Bowl:
Wild Card Weekend for the 2025 season will feature six games starting Saturday, January 10.
Wild Card winners join the top seeds in each conference in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, January 17-18.
The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 25.
The winners meet two weeks later on Sunday, February 8, in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (NBC).
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