NFL’s First Thursday Night Game of 2026 Streams on Netflix, Not Amazon

The opening week of the 2026 NFL season brings an unusual wrinkle for fans of Thursday night football: the league’s first Thursday game will not air on Amazon Prime Video, its usual streaming home.

Amazon’s exclusive Thursday Night Football package is set to begin in Week 2 on Sept. 17. That leaves the Sept. 10 season-opening Thursday matchup — an international clash between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia — streaming exclusively on Netflix. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. ET, and the contest will mark the NFL’s first regular-season game played in Australia.

The scheduling quirk stems from another calendar shift: the traditional Thursday-night Kickoff Game has moved to Wednesday, Sept. 9 in 2026, featuring a Super Bowl rematch between the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. That departure from the standard early-September Thursday slot appears to have opened the door for a different streaming partner to carry the first true Thursday game of the year.

Netflix, which has been expanding its live-sports footprint in recent seasons, requires a subscription for the broadcast. Plans start at $8.99 per month with ads, with ad-free tiers available at higher price points — a potential on-ramp for football fans who do not already carry the service.

The arrangement underscores how the NFL’s media rights remain fragmented across multiple streaming platforms, with different weeks and special games distributed across services. For Amazon, the Week 1 absence is a one-off — its Thursday Night Football package resumes as scheduled the following week.

The shift also lands in a media landscape where sports rights remain a key differentiator for streaming services. Comcast, whose NBCUniversal unit holds its own NFL package, saw shares slip to $26.33 in recent trading, down about 1% from a prior close of $26.59, valuing the telecom and media conglomerate at roughly $92.5 billion.

What to watch

• Whether Netflix reports viewership figures for the Australia opener, a data point for gauging its live-sports ambitions.
• Amazon’s Thursday Night Football debut of the season on Sept. 17 in Week 2.
• Further NFL announcements on international games and streaming distribution as the 2026 schedule unfolds.

Source: original release