Draft:2025 NFL season
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| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 4, 2025 – January 4, 2026 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | January 10, 2025 |
| Super Bowl LX | |
| Date | February 8, 2026 |
| Site | Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | February 1, 2026 |
| Site | TBD |
The 2025 NFL season is the 106th season of the National Football League (NFL). The season is scheduled to begin on September 4, 2025, with the NFL Kickoff Game. The regular season is set to end on January 4, 2026.
The playoffs are then scheduled to start on January 10, and conclude with Super Bowl LX, the league's championship game, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on February 8.
Player movement
[edit]The 2025 NFL league year and trading period will start on March 12. On March 10, teams will be allowed to exercise options for 2025 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2024 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "top 51" definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 12, clubs will be allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with players whose contracts had expired and thus became unrestricted free agents.[1]
| C | Center | CB | Cornerback | DB | Defensive back | DE | Defensive end[a] | |||
| DL | Defensive lineman | DT | Defensive tackle | FB | Fullback | FS | Free safety | |||
| G | Guard[b] | K | Kicker[c] | KR | Kickoff returner | LB | Linebacker | |||
| LS | Long snapper | MLB | Middle linebacker[d] | OT | Offensive tackle | OL | Offensive lineman | |||
| OLB | Outside linebacker[a] | NT | Nose tackle | P | Punter | PR | Punt returner | |||
| QB | Quarterback | RS | Return specialist | RB | Running back | S | Safety | |||
| SS | Strong safety | TE | Tight end | WR | Wide receiver |
Draft
[edit]The 2025 NFL draft will take place around Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26.[2]
Preseason
[edit]The majority of training camps will be opened on July 23. The preseason will begin on July 31 with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
Regular season
[edit]The season is planned to be played over an 18-week schedule, beginning on September 4. Each of the league's 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week. The regular season is then scheduled to end on January 4, 2026; all games during the final weekend will be intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.[1]
Each team plays the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions), and one game against a team in another division in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their respective division the previous season.[3]
The division pairings for 2025 are as follows:[3]
|
Four intra-conference games |
Four interconference games |
Interconference game by 2023 position |
Highlights of the 2025 season are planned to include the following:[4]
- NFL Kickoff Game: The season will begin with the Kickoff Game on September 4, 2025, hosted by the defending Super Bowl LIX champion.
- NFL International Series: Five International Series games are on the 2025 schedule. London, England will host three games, with two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium. One game will be played at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany. The final game will be played at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, in Madrid, Spain.
- Thanksgiving: Three Thanksgiving Day games are planned to be held on November 27, with Detroit and Dallas expected to host traditional afternoon doubleheader, and a primetime game between opponents yet to be announced. Another game will be scheduled on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving.[5][6]
- Christmas: Christmas Day, December 25, lands on a Thursday. This is expected to be the first time that the league will stage Thursday Christmas games.
Postseason
[edit]The 2025 playoffs are scheduled to begin with the wild-card round, with three wild-card games played in each conference. Wild Card Weekend is planned for January 10–12, 2026. In the Divisional round, scheduled for January 17–18, the top seed in the conference will play the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams will play each other. The winners of those games will advance to the Conference Championship games scheduled for January 25. Super Bowl LX is scheduled for February 8 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Media
[edit]National
[edit]Linear television
[edit]This will be the third season under 11-year U.S. media rights agreements with CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC along with its Spanish counterparts ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, and Telemundo Deportes.[7] Under these linear television rights:
- Sunday afternoon games are split between CBS and Fox. Both networks will continue to carry the Sunday afternoon AFC and NFC packages, respectively. When the initial schedule was created, CBS and Fox were able to specify a limited amount of games involving teams from their respective conference that they want to air, but otherwise the league was free to schedule games regardless of conference.[8] Each network is scheduled to air ten doubleheaders, with both networks airing one on Weeks 15 and 18.[9][10] On Thanksgiving, CBS will have the early Detroit game and Fox the late Dallas game.[7] CBS also has the option of producing alternative broadcasts of select games on Nickelodeon.[7]
- NBC will continue to air Sunday Night Football, the NFL Kickoff Game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game.[7]
- ESPN will continue to produce Monday Night Football and the doubleheader on the last Saturday of the season. Four MNF games and the Saturday doubleheader will be ESPN/ABC simulcasts. Three weeks will feature two MNF games split between ABC and ESPN.[7][11][12]
- NFL Network will air four International Series and three late-season Saturday games.
Streaming
[edit]- This will be the fourth year of a 12-year deal with Amazon Prime Video and Twitch to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football.[13] This will also be the third season that Prime Video/Twitch will stream the game on the Friday after Thanksgiving.[5] DirecTV has an agreement with Amazon to distribute Thursday Night Football games to business establishments.[14]
- Peacock will simulcast NBC's games.[7]
- ESPN+ will simulcast all games on ABC, including games being simulcast on ESPN.[7]
- Paramount+ will simulcast in market and national CBS games.[7]
- Netflix will exclusively stream at least one game in 2025, as part of a three year deal..[15]
- This will be the third season out of a seven year deal that the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market sports package will stream on YouTube TV, as well as on YouTube's Primetime Channels service as a standalone subscription option.[16] DirecTV and EverPass Media will also distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to business establishments.[17][18][19]
- The league's streaming service NFL+ will continue to live stream in-market regular season and postseason games on mobile devices only, radio broadcasts for all games, most out-of-market preseason games and a live stream of NFL Network on its base tier, and replays of games along with a live stream of NFL RedZone on its premium tier.[20]
Postseason
[edit]All four broadcast partners will air at least one Wild Card round game, with CBS and Fox airing a AFC and NFC Wild Card game, respectively. NBC will air the Sunday night game under the fifth year of its seven-year deal.[21][22][23] ESPN/ABC will broadcast the Monday night Wild Card game, its last in a five-year deal.[24][25] Fox will air a second game in the wild card round as part of its rotation with CBS and NBC.
This will be the third season that all four broadcast television partners air one divisional playoff game per season (ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC).[26]
NBC will televise Super Bowl LX in the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.[27] Under this rotation, NBC has the Super Bowl during the same years it has its Winter Olympics coverage. Super Bowl LX will join Super Bowl LVI as the second time that the game is scheduled on a date within the date range of an ongoing Olympics event, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.[28][29]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "2023–24 Important NFL Dates". National Football League. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ^ "Dates announced for 2024 NFL Draft presented by Bud Light in Detroit". DetroitLions.com. March 23, 2023. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023.
- ^ a b "2023 National Football League Record & Fact Book". National Football League. 2023. Archived from the original on June 27, 2023.
- ^ "Schedule Release '24". NFL.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
- ^ a b "Prime Video to stream 'Black Friday' NFL game in 2023". NFL.com. October 18, 2022. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "2024 Week 13 schedule". www.nfl.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "NFL announces TV deals with ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Amazon". ESPN.com. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ Lerner, Drew (January 23, 2023). "NFL media rights refresher: What can viewers expect next season?". Sports Media Watch. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (May 13, 2024). "Olsen unmentioned as Fox sets Brady's debut". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ "2024 — Week 15". NFL.com. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
- ^ Dixon, Michael (May 3, 2024). "Fewer 'Monday Night Football' games will be simulcast on ABC". Awful Announcing. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ "Who is playing in NFL Monday Night Football? Here's the complete 2024 MNF schedule". USA Today. May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
- ^ "NFL completes long-term media distribution agreements through 2033 season". NFL. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
- ^ "DIRECTV Inks Deal With Amazon Prime Video to Provide Thursday Night Football to 300,000+ Sports Bars and Other Venues". Sports Video Group. August 23, 2022. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (May 15, 2024). "Netflix Scores Two NFL Christmas Day 2024 Games Under Three-Year Deal With League". Variety. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
- ^ Flint, Joe; Kruppa, Miles (December 22, 2022). "YouTube Cements Its TV Shift With NFL Sunday Ticket Deal". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "NFL Sunday Ticket Continues to be Available to Commercial Establishments Nationwide Through DIRECTV". www.prnewswire.com. May 25, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Insider, DirecTV (August 23, 2022). "DIRECTV & Prime Video bring Thursday Night Football to sports bars & more". DIRECTV Insider. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ "NFL Sunday Ticket for Your Commercial Establishment". EverPass. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
- ^ "NFL launches exclusive streaming subscription service NFL+". www.nfl.com. July 25, 2022. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (May 15, 2023). "Peacock shocker: Streamer gets exclusive NFL playoff game". Sports Media Watch. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ "NBCUniversal and NFL Reach 11-Year Extension & Expansion for Sunday Night Football, Primetime TV'S #1 Show". NBC Sports Pressbox. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Toonkel, Joe Flint and Jessica (May 15, 2023). "Peacock to Carry One NFL Playoff Game Exclusively Next Season". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- ^ "ESPN to broadcast Super Wild Card Weekend's Monday night game for next five years". www.nfl.com. October 13, 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
- ^ "ViacomCBS and NFL Reach New Long-Term Multiplatform Rights Agreement Through the 2033 Season". www.businesswire.com. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Volner, Derek (March 18, 2021). "The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and National Football League Reach Landmark Long-Term Agreement". ESPN Press Room U.S. Archived from the original on March 16, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (May 16, 2023). "Super Bowl Spanish-Language Rights Claimed By TelevisaUnivision In U.S.; Company Tells Upfront Buyers Its Vix Streaming Service Has Passed 30 Million Users". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sportspromediawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Reedy, Joe (February 6, 2022). "Super Bowl/Olympics Sunday about to become routine for NBC". Associated Press. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
When the NFL's 11-year television contract starts in 2023, NBC's spot in the Super Bowl rotation lines up the same year as the Winter Olympics.