If you’ve been waiting patiently for the NFL schedule to be released, you’re not going to have to wait much longer and that’s because it appears that the release date is now set. According to the Sports Business Journal, NFL teams have been informed in a memo that the 2024 schedule will be released on Wednesday, May 15, which makes it the latest schedule release since at least 1990.
If you want full coverage of the schedule release, here’s everything you need to know:
Date: Wednesday, May 15 | Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: NFL Network
CBS Sports HQ: We’ll have full coverage on CBS Sports HQ starting at 8 p.m. ET on May 15.
The 2024 release will mark the fifth straight year that the schedule has come out in May, so you can probably just plan on that happening for the rest of time. Before 2020, the NFL schedule was generally released in April, but the date got moved to May during the pandemic. The NFL liked the May release date so much that the league has decided to stick with it.
The later release date means the league doesn’t have to finalize the schedule until after the draft, which allows the NFL to potentially put some of the league’s newest stars in prime time. For instance, the Bears likely became a much more attractive team for the schedule-makers now that they have Caleb Williams.
It’s not clear why the NFL pushed the schedule release so far back this year and the league didn’t offer any explanation in the memo that it sent to teams.
Although we wont’ know the exact schedule until May 15, we do already know several things about this year’s slate of games and you can check those out below:
- Thursday night opener in Kansas City. The defending Super Bowl champion annually plays host in the opening game of the season, which means that barring something unforeseen, the Chiefs will be the home team in the Thursday night opener. Their home schedule consists of the Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Ravens, Bengals, Texans, Saints and Buccaneers, so the NFL will have plenty of juicy games to choose from, including a possible AFC title game rematch with Baltimore. The Bengals and Texans would also qualify as attractive options. The NFL generally tries to avoid putting divisional games in the opener, so the Chargers, Raiders and Broncos likely won’t be playing in Kansas City in Week 1.
- NFL set to play in Brazil for the first time. Not only are their four European games on the schedule this year, but the NFL has scheduled a game in Brazil for the first time. The Eagles will be the home team for a Week 1 game against the Packers that will stream exclusively on Peacock on Friday, Sept. 6
- International series will also feature games in London and Munich. The NFL will be playing four games in Europe this year with three games in London and one game in Germany. For the slate of games in England, the Bears, Vikings and Jaguars will each serve as the home team in one game. As for the game in Germany, the Panthers will serve as the home team for the NFL’s second regular-season game ever in Munich.
- Christmas doubleheader that will make history. For just the third time in 75 years, the NFL will be playing on a Wednesday this year and that will be happening because Christmas falls on a Wednesday in 2024. The NFL will be giving us a doubleheader on Dec. 25.
- Every home-and-away opponent for all 32 teams. Although we don’t know the time and dates for any game yet this year, we do know who each team will be playing and you can check out the home-and-away opponents for all 32 teams by clicking here.
You can check out our full list of everything we know here.
The NFL schedule release has become a major offseason event for the league and this year is no exception.
