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The NFL is looking to add to its already busy schedule.
In recent years, the NFL has scheduled games on Black Friday, Christmas and the Friday after the first regular season game of the year, while expanding its international presence.
Commissioner Roger Goodell is reportedly heading into Thanksgiving week as the league explores the possibility of playing a game the day before Thanksgiving and could implement a game as early as this season, according to reports from ESPN.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attends the 2026 NFL Pro Bowl at Moscone Center South in San Francisco on February 3, 2026. The NFC won 66-52. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
“Each offseason, we seek new opportunities to better serve our fans in the scheduling process,” the league said Wednesday in a statement. “As Commissioner (Roger) Goodell said, Thanksgiving and NFL football have become synonymous and, with growing fan interest around our Thanksgiving and Black Friday games, seeking additional opportunities related to this special holiday is exciting for us to explore.”
If the NFL adds another game to its Thanksgiving week slate, it hopes to capitalize on the success of Black Friday games. The Chicago Bears faced the Philadelphia Eagles last season on Black Friday, and the game averaged 16.3 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, left, greets fans during the first half of the NFL Pro Bowl in San Francisco on February 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
The Thanksgiving games also brought in a lot of viewership for the NFL. They are among the most watched games of the regular season. Last year, programming averaged 44.7 million viewers, surpassing the 2024 mark of 34.5 million.
If the league holds a Thanksgiving Eve game, teams will likely receive a bye the week before, because playing a game on a Wednesday is unusual. There have only been four NFL games played on a Wednesday in the sport’s modern era.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks February 2, 2026, during his State of the NFL press conference in San Jose, California, ahead of the Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. (AP Photo/Matt York)
The day before Thanksgiving would give the league nine major broadcast windows to fill. There would also be marquee matches early and late afternoon on Sunday, Sunday evening and Monday evening.
The regular season schedule is not expected to be released until the first or second week of May.
