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NFL Week 1 schedule to be released Wednesday morning?

By Zac Wassink | Last updated May 11, 2021 4:48 PM ET

NFL fans learned ahead of this year's draft that the full schedule for the 2021 regular season that includes 18 weeks and each team playing 17 meaningful games will be released Wednesday night. A report surfaced last week that clubs will be permitted to publish their schedules at 7:45 p.m. ET Wednesday, 15 minutes before the NFL Network starts its "Schedule Release" broadcast.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wrote Tuesday that networks will share their Week 1 schedules Wednesday morning. This includes NBC's Thursday night regular-season opener that features the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting an opponent and the "Sunday Night Football" matchup.

The NFL scrapped the Week 1 "Monday Night Football" doubleheader for the first time since 2006.

Meanwhile, Danny Parkins of 670 The Score tweeted the Chicago Bears will be at the Los Angeles Rams for a showdown with former Detroit Lions starting quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first Sunday night of the campaign.

Week 1 Bears open in LA on Sunday Night Football against the Rams.
— Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) May 11, 2021

Broadcasters releasing portions of the schedule early on Wednesday makes sense for several reasons. Doing so allows the NFL to dominate social media conversations throughout the workday into the evening hours, and it also covers for any leaks shared by beat reporters and other in-the-know individuals who are sometimes inaccurate.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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