The first NFL game of the 2025 regular season starts at 8:20 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 4, 2025, when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. That kickoff is the league's official season opener. It follows the Hall of Fame Game in early August and three weeks of preseason play, neither of which counts in the standings.
The question sounds simple, but it hides four different clocks. There is the calendar date of the opener, the kickoff time in your local zone, the difference between preseason and regular season, and the broadcast window that may push the actual snap past the listed time. This explainer walks through each one so you can plan around the real start rather than the advertised one.
How the NFL sets the opening kickoff
The league office, not the individual teams, controls the date and time of the season opener. Each spring the NFL releases its full 272-game schedule, and the Thursday night Week 1 game is slotted into a prime-time broadcast window on NBC. The host team is usually the defending Super Bowl champion or a marquee franchise, and the matchup is chosen for television draw rather than competitive balance.
The 8:20 p.m. Eastern slot exists because it lands in the 8-11 p.m. window that broadcasters call prime time. That single window covers all four US mainland time zones at once: 8:20 p.m. Eastern, 7:20 p.m. Central, 6:20 p.m. Mountain, and 5:20 p.m. Pacific. A viewer in Hawaii sees it at 2:20 p.m. A viewer in London sees it after midnight. The time is fixed to the Eastern zone and translated for everyone else.
The kicked ball does not always fly at the listed minute. Broadcast pregame coverage, a national anthem, and player introductions eat into the window. The ball is typically kicked two to six minutes after the announced time, and the league builds that buffer into its own timing. Plan for 8:20 p.m. Eastern as the target, not the guarantee.
The calendar: preseason, opener, and the real start
The NFL calendar has three distinct starts, and confusing them is the most common error. The first is the Hall of Fame Game in early August, a bonus preseason contest that does not count. The second is the preseason slate, usually three games per team across August. The third is the regular-season opener, which is the only one that matters for standings.
In 2025 the Hall of Fame Game fell on July 31, and the regular season opened on September 4. That gap of about five weeks is typical. The preseason is a tune-up, and teams rest starters heavily, so a preseason "first game" tells you almost nothing about the season. When people ask when the first NFL game starts, they almost always mean the regular-season opener.
The regular season then runs 18 weeks, with each team playing 17 games and taking one bye week. Week 1 is the anchor. Everything downstream, including the playoffs and the Super Bowl, is scheduled backward from that September Thursday.
Kickoff times across the season
The opener is not representative of most NFL start times. Week 1's Sunday games cluster in the 1 p.m. and 4:05/4:25 p.m. Eastern windows, and the Sunday night game lands at 8:20 p.m. Eastern. The table below shows the standard windows a fan will actually encounter.
| Window | Eastern time | Typical games | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday opener | 8:20 p.m. | Week 1 kickoff | Prime-time, NBC |
| Sunday early | 1:00 p.m. | 6-8 games | Largest single window |
| Sunday late | 4:05 or 4:25 p.m. | 3-5 games | Split by broadcast rights |
| Sunday night | 8:20 p.m. | 1 game | NBC, flexible late season |
| Monday night | 8:15 p.m. | 1-2 games | ESPN, doubleheaders early |
| International | Varies | London, Munich, etc. | Often 9:30 a.m. Eastern |
The London games are the outlier fans miss. A game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium typically kicks at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 2:30 p.m. local time. That is a full 11 hours earlier than the Thursday opener, and it catches people who assume all NFL games are afternoon or evening events.
Why "kickoff" and "game start" differ
The clock on your screen and the clock in the stadium are not the same thing. The broadcast begins with a pregame show, then the anthem, then the coin toss, then the kick. The NFL's own game operations manual sets a target for the ball to be kicked, but weather delays, network overruns, and ceremonies can shift it.
A second layer is the game clock itself. The NFL runs a 60-minute game clock, but a real game takes about three hours because the clock stops on incompletions, out-of-bounds plays, penalties, and scores. The average regular-season game in recent seasons has run roughly three hours and ten minutes. So a game that "starts" at 8:20 p.m. Eastern typically ends near 11:30 p.m. Eastern.
A third layer is the broadcast window. Networks pay for a fixed slot, and a game that runs long can push the next program. That is why the Sunday late window sometimes starts at 4:25 rather than 4:05 p.m. Eastern. The league and the network negotiate the exact minute based on the early games' length.
Common misconceptions
The most persistent myth is that the Hall of Fame Game is the season opener. It is not. It is an exhibition, it is often played with third-string players, and it does not appear in the standings. The regular season starts in September, and that is the date that matters.
A second myth is that all NFL games start at the same time. They do not. The league staggers kickoffs across Thursday, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, and Monday night to maximize television inventory. A fan in one city may see their team at 1 p.m. Eastern while a fan in another sees theirs at 4:25 p.m.
A third myth is that the listed time is the snap time. As noted, the ball usually flies a few minutes after the listed time. If you are setting a DVR or planning a watch party, build in a five-minute buffer.
A counterintuitive detail worth knowing: the NFL has occasionally moved a kickoff earlier or later for weather or broadcast reasons, and the league announces those changes only days in advance. The 8:20 p.m. Eastern opener is stable, but Week 1 Sunday windows can shift. Check the league's official schedule the week of the game.
The Hall of Fame Game is preseason, not the opener. Listed kickoff times are targets, not guaranteed snap times. International games can start 11 hours earlier than US prime time. Sunday late windows split between 4:05 and 4:25 p.m. Eastern. Weather and broadcast overruns can move a kickoff with little notice.
Practical actions for planning
If you want to watch the opener live, set your alarm for the listed time minus 15 minutes. That gives you the pregame and the anthem without missing the kick. If you are recording, add 30 minutes to the end of the game window to cover overtime, which the NFL plays in the regular season and which can add 15 to 20 minutes.
If you are traveling, convert the Eastern time to your local zone before you book anything. A 8:20 p.m. Eastern kick is 5:20 p.m. Pacific, 1:20 a.m. London, and 9:20 a.m. Tokyo the next day. The league's official site and the broadcast partner's schedule page both list local times, and those are more reliable than a search snippet.
If you are buying tickets, arrive at the stadium at least 90 minutes before the listed kickoff. Gate lines, security screening, and parking at a sold-out opener can easily eat an hour. The game will not wait for you, and the first possession is often the most-watched.
If you are planning a watch party, confirm the broadcast network and the streaming service. The Thursday opener is typically on NBC and its streaming platform, and a cable-only viewer may not have access. Check before you invite guests.
Limits and what this cannot tell you
This explainer covers the structure of the NFL calendar, not a specific season's exact schedule beyond the 2025 opener. The league can and does move games for weather, international obligations, and broadcast reasons, and those changes are announced close to game day. The safest source is the league's own schedule release and the broadcast partner's listings.
It also cannot tell you the exact second the ball will be kicked. The NFL targets a time, but the anthem, the coin toss, and network overruns introduce variance of several minutes. Treat every listed kickoff as a target, not a contract.
Finally, the 2025 date reflects the schedule as released. If the league shifts the opener for any reason, the date changes. Confirm the week of the game. This article is general educational information about how the NFL schedule works, not a guarantee of any specific kickoff time. For the most current schedule, consult the NFL's official site or your local broadcaster.