The National Football League offseason took an unexpected turn this week, as it shared an update regarding one of the most important events of the league.

On May 5, NFL Vice President Mike North stated on the ‘It’s Always Game Day in Buffalo’ podcast that the league may push back its 2026 schedule release.

“Most fans know full well that the schedule comes out in mid-May now. That’s what we’ve done the last five or six years. That’s sort of our target," North stated. "I don’t think it’s coming out in June, but that second week in May has been our target the last few years, but I don’t know that it’s impossible to think about that third week in May.”

Traditionally, it is scheduled for the second week of May, but could shift to the second week of May due to the ongoing broadcast negotiations. North emphasized that the second week of May remains the target while the third week is firmly on the table.

The main issue is the five-game package that the league is negotiating with a streaming partner. Unless those negotiations are sorted, it is impossible to schedule.

“These five games that are out there as a package that are being negotiated right now- love to know when, where those games are going to be played so we can schedule them accordingly," North said.

"We’ve got more international games than ever before. They’d sure like to know. There are planned trips. We need to book hotels and charter airlines and anthem singers and frisbee dogs,” North added.

The major offseason needs management between the draft and the training camp. Balancing travel demands and television value makes it more difficult. However, North believes it doesn’t get finalized until the Commissioner of the NFL says it’s finalized.

The NFL’s renegotiations with its main broadcast partners, including CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and Prime Video, have frozen.

NBC Sports president, Jon Miller, stated that the NFL has not approached NBC regarding a new deal. There are no new deals in effect until 2027.

2026 NFL Schedule Set to Drop 'Soon' Amid Ongoing Timeline Doubts

Since the NFL regular season games are months away, fans can start planning their travel in due time when the NFL schedule is released in May. With the schedule yet to be released, several games have already been announced.

Only the 49ers at Rams in Australia on September 10 and Ravens at Cowboys in Brazil on September 27 have been officially confirmed.

Melbourne will host the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in Australia in Week 1.

There are an additional eight international games to the Week 1 NFC West matchup. The remaining schedules will be released, but just not as soon as everyone expected.

What are your views on the delay of the 2026 NFL schedule release? Comment and let us know!

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Written by

Hetal Moleshri

Edited by

Rishab Nandi