The NFL released its 2020 17-week full schedule and here are some quick notes while perusing the date and times below:
• NFL’s 101st season begins with the league’s annual primetime kickoff game, as the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium on September 10 (8:20 PM ET, NBC) in a rematch of the AFC Divisional playoffs.
• The 2020 NFL schedule, Powered by AWS, features the debut of two world-class venues – SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Los Angeles Rams will meet the Dallas Cowboys on NBC’s Sunday Night Football (8:20 PM ET) on September 13 in their new home while the Los Angeles Chargers welcome the Chiefs to SoFi Stadium in Week 2 on September 20 (4:25 PM ET, CBS). Also in Week 2, the Raiders host the first-ever regular-season NFL game in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium when they face the New Orleans Saints on ESPN’s Monday Night Football (8:15 PM ET, with a simulcast on ABC) on the 50th anniversary of the first Monday Night Football game in 197
• Thursday Night Football will air exclusively on NFL Network in Weeks 2-4, while FOX kicks off its Thursday night slate in Week 5. FOX will broadcast 10 Thursday Night Football games between Weeks 5-15 (excluding Thanksgiving night) as well as the Friday, December 25, game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints (4:30 PM ET). Those FOX games are slated to be simulcast via NFL Network, distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes, and streamed on Amazon Prime Video, beginning with Tampa Bay at Chicago on October 8.
• Thanksgiving will feature a tripleheader on Thursday, November 26. The first game will send the Texans to Detroit to face the Lions (12:30 PM ET, CBS). The late afternoon game will feature the Washington Redskins visiting the Dallas Cowboys (4:30 PM ET, FOX). The Thanksgiving Day festivities conclude with an AFC North showdown as the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on NBC (8:20 PM ET).
• The regular season will conclude with Week 17 on Sunday, January 3. For the 12th consecutive year, all 16 games scheduled for Week 17 are division contests, enhancing the potential for more games with playoff ramifications.
POSTSEASON
Beginning this year, two additional Wild Card teams – one each in the American and National Football Conferences – will qualify for the playoffs. The No. 1 seed in each conference will receive a bye in the Wild Card round. The remaining division champions in each conference with the best records will be seeded 2, 3, and 4, followed by the next three teams per conference with the best records seeded 5, 6, and 7.
AFC and NFC Wild Card games will feature the 2 seed hosting the 7 seed, the 3 seed hosting the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosting the 5 seed.
Wild Card Weekend for the 2020 season will consist of three games on Saturday, January 9, and three games on Sunday, January 10, 2021.
The NFL last expanded the playoffs for the 1990 season, increasing from 10 to 12 the number of teams to qualify for the postseason. Since 1990, at least four new teams have qualified for the playoffs that missed the postseason the year before – a streak of 30 consecutive seasons.
Wild Card Weekend winners join the top division champions in each conference in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, January 16-17. The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday,
January 24. The winners meet two weeks later on Sunday, February 7, in Super Bowl LV at Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium (CBS).
