When Does the NFL Season Start?
The NFL season is about to start and everyone is getting excited! Here’s everything you need to know about when the season starts and how to catch all the action.
Introduction
The National Football League (NFL) regular season typically begins on the last Thursday in August and ends on the first Sunday in January, although it can extend into February. Each team plays 16 games during the regular season.
The NFL season usually starts around the same time as the college football season, which typically begins on the first Saturday in September. However, the NFL’s regular season is shorter than college football’s, so the NFL’s playoffs usually begin before college football’s bowl games.
Regular Season
The regular season for the NFL typically starts in early September and runs through late December. The playoffs then take place in January, with the Super Bowl occurring in February.
Pre-Season
Pre-season games begin in early August, with the NFL Kickoff game typically taking place on the first Thursday night of the month. The regular season begins the following week, with most teams playing their first game on Sunday, September 8th. The regular season concludes on Sunday, December 29th.
The postseason tournament bracket is set after the conclusion of the regular season, with the Wild Card round taking place on Saturday, January 4th and Sunday, January 5th. The Divisional round follows on Saturday, January 11th and Sunday, January 12th, with the Conference Championships taking place on Sunday, January 19th.
The 47th annual edition of the Super Bowl will be played on Sunday, February 2nd at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Post-Season
The NFL post-season, commonly referred to as the playoffs, is a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. A total of 12 teams—the six winners of each of the NFL’s two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC)—qualify for the playoffs. These teams compete in a pre-selected order, ensuring that a team from each conference plays on Wild Card Weekend, followed by at least one team from each conference in Divisional Playoff games. The AFC and NFC champion teams then face each other in the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.
