NFL’s First Thursday Night Game of 2026 Skips Amazon, Heads to Netflix for Australia Opener

The 2026 NFL season brings an unusual twist to the league’s Thursday night slate: the first Thursday game of the year will not appear on Amazon Prime Video, the platform that has carried the Thursday Night Football package since 2022.

The season kicks off with a rare Wednesday opener on Sept. 9, when the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl rematch. The following night, the Los Angeles Rams face the San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia — the NFL’s first regular-season game played in that country — with kickoff set for 8:35 p.m. ET.

While Amazon’s exclusive Thursday night package typically begins in Week 1, that deal doesn’t start until Week 2 on Sept. 17 this year. In the meantime, the Week 1 international matchup will stream exclusively on Netflix, continuing the streamer’s expansion into live sports after its recent NFL Christmas-day games.

For fans hoping to tune in, Netflix subscription plans begin at $8.99 per month with ads, with ad-free tiers priced higher. The arrangement underscores the increasingly fragmented nature of NFL media rights, with games now spread across broadcast networks, cable, and multiple streaming platforms.

The distribution landscape remains a crowded one. Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which airs Sunday Night Football and holds a stake in streaming through Peacock, is among the legacy media companies navigating competition from tech-backed streamers like Amazon and Netflix for premium live sports content. Shares of Comcast (CMCSA) closed at $26.33, down about 1% from the previous close of $26.59, valuing the company at roughly $92.5 billion.

Amazon’s package resumes in earnest on Sept. 17, when the traditional Thursday night schedule returns to Prime Video for the remainder of the season.

What to watch

• Streaming viewership figures for the Netflix-exclusive Australia opener, which may inform future international rights discussions.
• Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football debut for 2026 in Week 2 on Sept. 17.
• Upcoming earnings reports from streamers and media companies, where live sports investment and subscriber trends are likely topics.

Source: original release