How to Watch the Seattle Seahawks Defend Their Title in the 2026 NFL Season

According to a streaming guide published by The New York Times, the Seattle Seahawks open the 2026 NFL season on Wednesday, September 9, hosting a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots — kicking off a championship-defense calendar that places the reigning title holders across CBS, Fox, and a broad slate of streaming tiers. The viewing footprint reflects the league's distribution architecture: traditional broadcast windows remain the structural backbone, while multichannel streaming services absorb the cord-cutting audience that now drives weekly reach.

Network calculus for the defending champions

CBS retains its position as the primary home of the AFC, splitting Sunday afternoons between a 1 p.m. window and a later slot at 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m., with ten nationwide doubleheaders slated for the season. The lead booth features Jim Nantz and Ian Eagle on play-by-play, with JJ Watt rotating through color commentary — and a notable pregame desk addition in newly retired Russell Wilson, now part of "The NFL Today" lineup following his June retirement. Local CBS broadcasts stream through Paramount+, while over-the-air antenna access covers the free tier.

Fox mirrors that dual-window structure for NFC matchups, anchored by its branded "America's Game of the Week" property. Kevin Burkhardt pairs with Tom Brady, Joe Davis calls games alongside former Seahawk Greg Olsen, and Adam Amin works with Drew Brees, who joins the broadcast team fresh off his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. Fox Deportes carries select Spanish-language broadcasts, and the network holds the high-visibility Christmas night slot — a Seahawks–Los Angeles Rams clash positioned as one of the marquee regular-season attractions.

The cord-cutting playbook

For viewers outside the pay TV bundle, multichannel live TV streaming services remain the most expansive route: Fubo, Sling TV, and YouTube TV carry the full NFL media partner lineup, running parallel to legacy satellite and cable providers like DirecTV, Dish, and Xfinity. The structural trade-off is fragmentation — each rights-holder effectively funnels through a different streaming tier, and a complete weekly experience still tends to require either a single consolidated pay TV subscription or careful coordination across antennas, Paramount+, and whichever service holds a given Sunday's marquee window.

Schedule notes worth flagging

Beyond the September 9 opener, Seattle's slate includes the Christmas Day special against the Rams and several primetime spotlights — placement that concentrates audience attention on windows typically reserved for the league's most marketable storylines. Rookie Jadarian Price steps into the backfield role vacated by Kenneth Walker III, while Brian Fleury takes over as offensive coordinator following Klint Kubiak's departure from Mike Macdonald's staff. With new ownership in place, Hard Knocks cameras documenting the operation, and the target of every NFC contender squarely on their backs, the Seahawks' weekly distribution footprint — across broadcast, cable, and streaming — will be among the more closely tracked of the 2026 season.