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Refreshed May 15, 2026

2026 NFL Schedule

2026 NFL International Games

The NFL's international slate keeps expanding. 9 games in 7 foreign cities, including the league's first match in Melbourne and a return to Rio de Janeiro. Most kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET, which means your fantasy lineup needs to be locked Saturday night.
Week 3International

Baltimore Ravens at Dallas Cowboys

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Kickoff

4:25 PM ET

16:25

Broadcast

CBS

Venue

Maracanã Stadium

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The 9:30 a.m. ET problem

London, Madrid, Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, all kick off at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. That is a full three and a half hours before the early Sunday slate. If you have a fantasy starter in one of these games, your weekly lineup is effectively locked Saturday night. There is no morning injury report scrub, no last-minute swap when your RB1 shows up as a surprise inactive. Plan around it.

Melbourne is the new outlier

The league's first regular-season game in Australia gets a Friday-night ET window that translates to Saturday lunchtime in Melbourne, an attractive local broadcast slot. For fantasy managers, it acts more like a Thursday Night Football game than a traditional international: locks early, your other starters still play Sunday.

Rio is its own thing

The Brazil game has stayed close to a normal Sunday afternoon ET window for the second straight year, which means it behaves like any other Sunday slate game from a lineup-setting perspective. The big edge is the early-week certainty: the venue, network, and kickoff are usually locked weeks ahead of the season opener.

Travel impact is real but smaller than you think

The historical fantasy hit for a designated home team playing in London is small, and teams with a bye the following week routinely outperform their season average the week after. Don't downgrade a star QB or WR1 for an international week unless the matchup itself warrants it.

Related

Full 2026 NFL Schedule →2026 Bye Weeks →Strength of Schedule →All 32 Team Schedules →
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Lineup locks at 9:30 a.m. don't have to bite

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