When Does the NFL Football Season Start?
The NFL regular season usually begins the week after Labor Day. This year, the season is set to start on Thursday, September 10.
Introduction
Any given NFL season starts on the Thursday following Labor Day. That date falls in early September, and the regular season typically runs through early January. The playoffs then begin in mid-January, culminating with the Super Bowl on the first Sunday in February.
The Regular Season
The National Football League regular season begins the week after Labor Day in early September and ends in December or early January. After a four-week preseason, during which each team plays four exhibition games, the regular season kicks off on the Thursday night following Labor Day, with the defending Super Bowl champion playing at home. From that point on, there are 16 NFL weeks, or 10 games for each of the 32 NFL teams.
The Preseason
The NFL preseason is the period each year during which NFL teams play several not-for-the-record exhibition games before the regular season.Beginning with the 2016 season, the preseason will be reduced from four games per team to three. Teams will no longer be allowed to schedule any fourth exhibition game, whether that game is home or away, televised or not. The Preseason will begin in early August and end in late August.
The Playoffs
The NFL football season starts with the playoffs. The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. The playoff field is set after the regular season ends, and is made up of six teams: four division winners and two wild-card teams. The division winners are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the top seed getting a bye in the first round. The two wild-card teams are seeded 5-6 and also play in the first round.
The first round of the playoffs is played on Wild Card Weekend, which is always the weekend after New Year’s Day. Wild Card Weekend is a three-day event, with four games played on Saturday and four more on Sunday. The divisional playoffs are played the following weekend, with two games on Saturday and two more on Sunday. The conference championships are played on Sunday of the following weekend.
The Super Bowl is always played on the first Sunday in February, and is considered its own separate event from the playoffs.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is played between the winner of the NFL’s American Football Conference (AFC) and the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC). The winner of the Super Bowl receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after legendary NFL head coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.
