The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday night or Saturday.
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Currently, the majority of NFL regular-season games are played on Sundays at 1 pm or 4:15 pm ET, with 4:15 pm games usually reserved either for matches hosted in the Pacific Time Zone or Mountain Time Zone, or for one or more marquee contests. The current NFL television contract awards the American broadcast of these games to FOX or CBS, with FOX showing games where the visiting team is from the NFC and CBS showing games where the visiting team is from the AFC. Each of these Sunday afternoon games are televised on a regional basis to a few or several areas around the country.
The schedule allows for 4 other regular time slots, in which these games are broadcast nationally across the country:
| Number of regular season games per team | |
|---|---|
| 1935-36 | 12 games |
| 1937-42, 1946 | 11 games (12 weeks) |
| 1943-45 | 10 games (12 weeks) |
| 1947-60 | 12 games (variable weeks) |
| 1961-77 | 14 games |
| 1978-81, 1983–86, 1988–89 | 16 games |
| 1982 | 9 games (17 weeks, strike) |
| 1987 | 15 games (16 weeks, strike) |
| 1990-92, 1994–2000, 2002–present | 16 games (17 weeks) |
| 1993 | 16 games (18 weeks) |
| 2001 | 16 games (18 weeks, September 11 attacks) |
In its early years after 1920, the NFL did not have a set schedule, and teams played as few as eight and as many as sixteen games, many against independent professional, college or amateur teams. From 1926 through 1946, they played from eleven to fifteen games per season, depending on the number of teams in the league. From 1947 through 1960, each NFL team played 12 games per season. In 1960, the American Football League began play and introduced a balanced schedule of 14 games per team over a fifteen week season, in which each of the eight teams played each of the other teams twice, with one bye week. Competition from the new league caused the NFL to expand and follow suit with a fourteen-game schedule in 1961. From 1961 through 1977, the NFL schedule consisted of fourteen regular season games played over fourteen weeks. Opening weekend typically was the weekend after Labor Day, or even two weekends after Labor Day. Teams played six, or even seven exhibition games. In 1978, the league changed the schedule to include sixteen regular season games and four exhibition games. From 1978-1989, the sixteen games were played over sixteen weeks.
In 1990, the NFL introduced a bye week to the schedule. Each team played sixteen regular season games over seventeen (eighteen in 1993 and 2001) weeks. During the season, on a rotating basis, each team would have the weekend off. As a result, opening weekend was moved up to Labor Day weekend. (The league had an odd number of teams (31) from 1999 to 2001. During that period, at least one team had to be given a bye on any given week.)
Since the 2002 season, the league has scheduled a nationally televised regular season kickoff game on the Thursday night after Labor Day, prior to the first Sunday of NFL games to kick off the season. The first one, featuring the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, was held on September 5, 2002 largely to celebrate New York City's resilience in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1] Since 2004, the NFL has indicated that the opening game will normally be hosted by the defending Super Bowl champions as the official start of their title defense. Thus, under this scheduling system, the earliest the regular season could begin is September 4, as it was in the 2008 season, due to the 1st falling on a Monday, while the latest possible is September 10, as it was in the 2009 season, due to the 1st falling on a Tuesday.
Currently, each team's 16-game regular season schedule is set using a pre-determined formula:
This schedule was designed so all teams will play each other at least once in a four-year span, and will play in every other team's stadium at least once in an eight-year span. It also guarantees that regardless of a given team's final divisional placement in the previous season, the 16 games that team plays in this current season will consist of:
For example, in the 2009 schedule grid shown above and to the right, the Browns finished fourth in their division in the previous (2008) season. Thus, in the 2009 season, they played four games against first-place teams (Steelers twice, Chargers, Vikings), four games against second-place teams (Ravens twice, Broncos, Bears), four games against third-place teams (Bengals twice, Raiders, Packers), and four games against fourth-place teams (Bills, Jaguars, Chiefs, Lions).
Although this scheduling formula determines each of the thirty-two teams' respective opponents, the league usually does not release the final regular schedule with specific dates and times until the spring; the NFL needs several months to coordinate the entire season schedule so that, among other reasons, games are worked around various scheduling conflicts, and that it helps maximize TV ratings.[2]
Under the original 2002 formula, those teams scheduled to play all the AFC West clubs had to travel to both Oakland and San Diego in the same season, while those clubs playing the NFC West had to make their way to both San Francisco and Seattle.[3] In fact, during the 2008 season, the New England Patriots and New York Jets each had to make cross-country trips to all four of the aforementioned West Coast teams.
As a result, after all of the teams had cycled through playing against each other both home and away by the end of the 2009 season, the league tweaked the formula, especially to relieve East Coast teams from having to travel to the West Coast multiple times during the same season. Under the modifications implemented in 2010, clubs now only have to visit one West Coast team (AFC West or NFC West), plus one western team from the same division closer to the Midwest. Specifically, those clubs traveling to Oakland would then instead play at Denver, while those playing at San Diego would instead just have a shorter trip to Kansas City. For those playing NFC West teams, some will travel to both San Francisco and Arizona in the same season, while others will instead make trips to Seattle and St. Louis.
Thus under the changes, for example, the Seahawks played both at Cleveland and at Pittsburgh in 2007 and 2011, as well as being at home against Cincinnati and Baltimore in those years. On the other hand, the 49ers' 2011 home-and-away interconference games with these AFC North teams remained the same as in 2003.[4] [5]
Prior to 2002 (when the league expanded to 32 teams) the league used similar scheduling rubrics, though they were adjusted for the number of teams and divisions. From 1970 to 1994, and again from 1999 to 2001, the league did not have equal numbers of teams in every division, which allowed for unbalanced schedules. The only time since the merger that the league has been completely "balanced" has been from 1995 to 1998 (with 6 divisions of 5 teams each) and since 2002 (with 8 divisions of 4 teams each). Additionally, prior to 2002, teams always played four of the teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating basis (albeit with the standings playing a role in who would play who), but not their own; meaning that while an AFC team would be more likely to play each NFC team on a regular basis, they could go far longer without playing every team in their own conference. For example, between 1970 (when the leagues merged) and 2002 (when the current schedule was introduced) the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins played only 6 times; including a stretch (1976–1997) where they met only once in 22 seasons.[6] Under the current system, they are guaranteed to meet at least every third year. It is still possible, albeit on a reduced scale, for intraconference match-ups to be seen over several consecutive years, which has played a role in the development of the Colts–Patriots rivalry: they have met every year since 2003 in the regular season, due to the teams often finishing in the same position in their divisions, while the Colts have only seen their other former AFC East rivals in years they would play the entire division.
Also during the years that the league did not have equal numbers of teams in every division, there was a special so-called "last place" or "fifth-place" schedule for teams who finished in last place in a five-team division. In addition to their division games, a team who finished in last place in the previous season would also primarily play the other teams who finished in last place, plus all the clubs in a four-team division. For example, the 1990 New England Patriots finished in last place in the AFC East. Their 1991 schedule then consisted of all their division games against AFC East opponents; games against teams in the four-team AFC Central; and games against the teams who also finished in fifth place in 1990: Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals.
There have been proposals to expand the regular season schedule to 17 or 18 games per team. Current Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he favors expanding it to 18 games.[7] However, a longer regular season proposal was defeated in the 2011 labor negotiations between the owners and the players association.[8][9] One of the proposals for the 17th and 18th games is to have every team play at least one game abroad every year.[10] Another idea being put forth by Houston Texans owner Bob McNair is to move the traditional regional rivalries that are currently played in the preseason (such as the Governor's Cups) into a permanent annual part of each NFL team's schedule.[11] The NFL Players' Association opposes extending the season, largely because of injury concerns, and extending the season would require that such an extension be included in the next collective bargaining agreement. The collective bargaining agreement signed in 2011 maintained the sixteen game regular season schedule.
For the next 3 years, assuming no major rules changes and no canceled seasons:
| Teams | Opponents | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Division | Intraconf. | Interconf. |
| 2011 | AFC East | AFC West | NFC East |
| AFC North | AFC South | NFC West | |
| AFC South | AFC North | NFC South | |
| AFC West | AFC East | NFC North | |
| NFC East | NFC West | AFC East | |
| NFC North | NFC South | AFC West | |
| NFC South | NFC North | AFC South | |
| NFC West | NFC East | AFC North | |
| 2012 | AFC East | AFC South | NFC West |
| AFC North | AFC West | NFC East | |
| AFC South | AFC East | NFC North | |
| AFC West | AFC North | NFC South | |
| NFC East | NFC South | AFC North | |
| NFC North | NFC West | AFC South | |
| NFC South | NFC East | AFC West | |
| NFC West | NFC North | AFC East | |
| 2013 | AFC East | AFC North | NFC South |
| AFC North | AFC East | NFC North | |
| AFC South | AFC West | NFC West | |
| AFC West | AFC South | NFC East | |
| NFC East | NFC North | AFC West | |
| NFC North | NFC East | AFC North | |
| NFC South | NFC West | AFC East | |
| NFC West | NFC South | AFC South | |
To date, several NFL regular season games have been played outside of the U.S. The first was the 2005 game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, which was played in Mexico City.
In October 2006, NFL club owners approved a plan to stage up to two international regular season games per season beginning in 2007 and continuing through at least 2011.[12] The New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins played at Wembley Stadium in London on October 28, 2007 for the first of these games.[13][14] A second game in London took place on Sunday 26 October 2008, when the San Diego Chargers took on the nominal 'home team' New Orleans Saints, also at Wembley.[15] The New England Patriots were the designated visitors when they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7 on October 25, 2009.[16][17]
The long term plan is to have two international games played every year, on a 16-year rotating schedule that would guarantee that each team would get to play twice over that span: once as the home team and once as the away team.
The Buffalo Bills will play eight games from 2008 through 2012 in Toronto, Ontario as part of the Bills Toronto Series. The Bills will play five regular season games (one each season) and three preseason games (one every other season) through 2012 in the Rogers Centre. The Bills first of eight games in Toronto was a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 14, 2008.[18] The Dolphins beat the Bills 16-3 in the first regular season game of the series, on December 7, 2008. The New York Jets played the Bills on Thursday, December 3, 2009.
From the beginnings of the NFL, most teams shared stadiums with Major League Baseball teams, with the MLB teams holding leases giving them priority. The NFL was required to schedule around September baseball games. In October this frequently resulted in NFL teams having to reschedule on short notice if the MLB team in their city made the playoffs. Sometimes the NFL game could be moved to Saturday or Monday. The NFL would often schedule October division games so that teams would be able to swap home game dates if it appeared that the MLB playoff schedule would make a stadium unavailable to the NFL. Probably the most extreme case was in 1973 when the New York Jets played at Shea Stadium and were forced to play their first six games on the road because the Mets were in the World Series. As more MLB teams started to move into baseball-only stadiums by the 1990s and 2000s, this became less of a problem. Currently, only the Oakland Raiders share the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum with the Oakland Athletics. (Also, the Buffalo Bills host one game a year at the Rogers Centre which is the home of the Toronto Blue Jays; this is only an issue in the preseason, since all regular season games to date have been scheduled after the end of the MLB regular season, and the Blue Jays have not made the MLB playoffs since 1993.)
The American Football League, the precursor to today's American Football Conference, postponed Week 12 of the 1963 season because of the assassination of President Kennedy, which took place on Friday, November 22. The AFL's games were made up by adding a 15th week to a 14-week schedule. The older and more established National Football League went ahead and played as scheduled on Sunday, November 24, 1963.
In 2001, Week 2 of the season was canceled because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Week 2's games were made up by adding an 18th week to what was originally a 17-week schedule. The games were played on Sunday, January 6 and Monday, January 7, 2002. The post-season schedule was moved back a week, including Super Bowl XXXVI due to the lack of a bye week before the game.
Several games have been postponed or relocated because of natural disasters. A few days before the start of the 2005 NFL Season, the Louisiana Superdome was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and much of the city of New Orleans was destroyed. The New Orleans Saints' eight scheduled home games were moved to other locations, including Giants Stadium, the Alamodome in San Antonio, and Louisiana State University. On September 14, 2008, the Houston Texans were scheduled to host the Baltimore Ravens. The game was postponed until November 9 because of Hurricane Ike (which caused some damage to Reliant Stadium) and several other changes had to be made to the schedule. The roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome collapsed on December 12, 2010 after a severe heavy snowstorm, resulting in the stadium being unusable for the remainder of the regular season. The last two of the Minnesota Vikings' home games had to be moved: one to Ford Field in Detroit (which also led to the game being postponed the following Monday night) and another to TCF Bank Stadium, the University of Minnesota's college football stadium.
The 1982 and 1987 seasons were both shortened by labor disputes. The 1982 strike lasted 57 days. Weeks 3 through 10 were canceled, but an additional week was added to make a 9-game schedule. The 1982 playoff matchups were determined by conference standings only. The 1987 strike and subsequent lockout lasted 24 days but only one week of the schedule was lost. Weeks 4 through 6 were played with replacement players. The rest of the season was played as originally scheduled, for a total of 15 games per team.
In the event that the 2011 NFL season had been disrupted because of a then-ongoing labor dispute, the NFL had arranged its schedule to facilitate easier cancellations and postponements. In addition to an emergency scenario of an eight-game schedule beginning in late November, the NFL also arranged its full-length schedule such that weeks 2 and 4 have no division games, week 17 has all division games, and all week 3 matchups can be moved into each team's respective bye week. The league also had a contingency plan to postpone Super Bowl XLVI one week, which (assuming a full playoff schedule) would allow a 13-game schedule with five division games for each team to be played beginning as late as October 16.