NFL single-game tickets for the 2026 regular season go on sale Thursday, May 14, with most clubs opening their windows around 7:30 p.m. ET immediately after teams reveal their schedules and a half-hour before the league’s full schedule airs on NFL Network and ESPN2.
How 2026 NFL Ticket Sales Will Roll Out
The release splits into two beats. Most teams unveil their slates and flip tickets live at 7:30 p.m. ET on club websites and through Ticketmaster. The league-wide reveal show then begins at 8 p.m. ET, by which point fans tracking specific games will already be in checkout queues.
The Bengals, Browns, Buccaneers, Colts, Seahawks and several others have confirmed the 7:30 p.m. ET on-sale. The Bears are an outlier, going public at 7:30 p.m. CT after a presale window for season ticket holders. Tickets flow through NFL Ticket HQ, which routes buyers to Ticketmaster, SeatGeek and Sports Illustrated Tickets depending on the team.
Season-ticket holders and waitlist members at most clubs already received early access, which means the public on-sale works through inventory that’s been picked over. That’s a relevant detail for anyone chasing premium seats to a marquee matchup.
The 2026 slate features 272 games across 18 weeks. The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks open the season at home against the New England Patriots on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC in a rematch of Super Bowl LX.
Which 2026 NFL Games Will Sell Out First?
The international slate is where there’s the most urgency. The NFL will play a record nine games abroad in 2026, including its first regular-season game in Australia.
The Melbourne game, 49ers-Rams at the MCG on Sept. 10 ET, drew more than 151,000 fans to a waitlist for a venue that seats roughly 100,000. Most seats sold out within the first 26 minutes of going on sale, with remaining inventory pushed into the AU$560-AU$630 range (roughly US$392-US$441).
“The 2026 NFL season will feature our most expansive and ambitious international slate yet, with regular-season games spanning Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City,” Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, major events and international, said in announcing the global schedule.
Domestic demand favors a familiar list. Per TicketClub resale data published before the schedule reveal, Bills and Seahawks home games show the strongest early pricing, alongside matchups featuring the Chiefs, Cowboys and 49ers. Seahawks-Bears carried a $367 get-in price and a $1,170 median listing price in the pre-release market. Seahawks-Patriots came in at $396 and $1,161.
That pre-release data will shift now that the league has released dates and time slots. A game placed in a Sunday night or Christmas Day window jumps higher. A 1 p.m. matchup against a rebuild loses heat. Buyers chasing value can target softer markets like New Orleans, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and the Chargers, where pre-release get-ins ran well under $100.
