{"id":43178,"date":"2026-02-10T11:50:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178"},"modified":"2026-02-10T11:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:50:37","slug":"how-mahomes-is-shaping-2026-nfl-schedule-international-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178","title":{"rendered":"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Seattle became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl without committing a turnover during its postseason run. That means the Seahawks will hang their banner at Lumen Field on Thursday, Sept. 10, in the league\u2019s annual kickoff game.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect it to be against the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

While Seattle appears on Kansas City\u2019s list of 2026 opponents, the Chiefs\u2019 trip to the Pacific Northwest is likely later in the season because the league isn\u2019t expected to gamble that Patrick Mahomes will be ready to play in Week 1.<\/p>\n

\"mahome\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Chiefs\u2019 quarterback underwent season-ending surgery Dec. 15 in Dallas to repair the ACL and LCL in his left knee. Mahomes sustained the injury the day before in a 16-13 loss to the Chargers. According to the Rick Burkholder, the team\u2019s vice president of sports medicine and performance, the ballpark average return for an NFL player is nine months from surgery.<\/p>\n

Mahomes said Jan. 15 that his rehab was progressing smoothly and he had set a personal goal of returning in time for the Chiefs\u2019 Week 1 game, fortuitously pushed back to mid-September due to Labor Day falling on Sept. 7. The NFL prefers to begin the regular season after that fall holiday, not before.<\/p>\n

\"mahome\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Timing of injury also affecting international opponents<\/h2>\n

The timing of the quarterback\u2019s injury and the NFL\u2019s prior commitment to feature the Rams in the inaugural regular-season game in Australia leaves only six options for Seattle\u2019s Week 1 kickoff game. That\u2019s because the league last week announced that the 49ers would serve as the Rams\u2019 historic opponent at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

That game, due to the significant round-trip travel, is likely a Week 1 game and could kick off ahead of the Seahawks\u2019 opener.<\/p>\n

\"nwos\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, one of those Lumen Field choices is a Super Bowl rematch with New England. The Seahawks also are scheduled to host Arizona, Chicago, Dallas, the L.A. Chargers and N.Y. Giants, in addition to the Rams, 49ers and Chiefs.<\/p>\n

The 2026 season is a year in which NFC teams are provided nine home games, while the AFC clubs get only eight. AFC teams like Kansas City were given nine home games in 2025. That also means that several NFC teams will give up 2026 home games to play an international contest, as AFC teams will do in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"mcvay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chiefs not likely to see international game in 2026<\/h2>\n

Prior to Mahomes\u2019 injury, the Chiefs were thought to be a potential Australia opponent for the Rams because Kansas City prefers to play internationally once per season, should the league allow it.<\/p>\n

If the Chiefs do get an international game this season, their most likely destination is London. But even that will be difficult for the league.<\/p>\n

Last week, commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the league would return to Mexico City, increasing the number of international games in 2026 to nine. The Chiefs, however, played in Mexico only seven years ago, a win over the Chargers in 2019, so the league isn\u2019t likely to return Kansas City there \u2013 especially because the country has hosted only two games in seven years (that Chiefs-Chargers contest and a 2022 game between the 49ers and Cardinals).<\/p>\n

\"mecole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That international slate also features three games in London (two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a Jaguars home game at Wembley Stadium), and one each in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Maracan\u00e3 Stadium), Munich, Germany (FC Bayern Munich Arena) and Madrid, Spain (Bernab\u00e9u Stadium, home of Real Madrid C.F.).<\/p>\n

Additionally last week, the league confirmed another in Paris, France (Stade de France), pitting the New Orleans Saints as one of the participating teams. Unconfirmed reports have said the Saints\u2019 Paris opponent would be the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n

\"chief\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because the Chiefs played in Germany as recently as 2023, a 21-14 win over Tyreek Hill and Miami. A Germany return is a extremely unlikely. Paris can\u2019t happen, either, because the Chiefs aren\u2019t a Saints opponent in 2026, even if New Orleans doesn\u2019t play the Browns in France.<\/p>\n

Kansas City doesn\u2019t appear on the Jaguars\u2019 list of opponents so Jacksonville\u2019s annual home game at Wembley Stadium isn\u2019t a possibility. So, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium seems like the only international choice for the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\"falcons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But even that will be a challenge because the only two opponents Kansas City could play in London are Seattle and Atlanta. Seattle and the Chiefs just played an international game three years ago. Atlanta, meanwhile, has played in London twice in the prior five seasons (2021 and 2023).<\/p>\n

The best guess is that Kansas City will play all 17 games in the United States this season.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Seattle became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl without committing a turnover during its postseason run. That means the Seah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Seattle became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl without committing a turnover during its postseason run. That means the Seah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178\",\"name\":\"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News","og_description":"KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Seattle became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl without committing a turnover during its postseason run. That means the Seah","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178","name":"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png","datePublished":"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-10T11:50:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kansas-city-bau-27.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43178#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Mahomes Is Shaping 2026 NFL Schedule, International Slate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43180,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43178\/revisions\/43180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}