Traditionally, Sunday has been the biggest day of the week in the NFL. Much like 3pm on a Saturday dominated the thoughts of UK football supporters, Sunday was the centrepiece of the sporting week for NFL fans.
Over time, the growth of live televised sport has influenced the spread of fixtures across a wide range of sports. Taking the Premier League as an example, the biggest games are now selected for Sky Sports Super Sunday coverage, with further fixtures shown on Friday, Saturday evening, Monday, and just about every other day of the week.
A similar pattern has emerged in the NFL. While the bulk of the games continue to take place in their traditional Sunday slot, prime-time, stand-alone games are also held on Monday and Thursday nights throughout the regular season. Focusing on the Thursday matchups, Thursday Night Football has become a staple of the weekly routine for fans in the US.
Happily, NFL-lovers on this side of the pond can join their US counterparts in taking in the Thursday Night Football action.
Thursday Night Football Fixtures & Results (Shown Friday AM in the UK)
| Day* | Date | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | 12th Sep 2025 | Washington | 18 - 27 | Green Bay |
| Friday | 19th Sep 2025 | Miami | 21 - 31 | Buffalo |
| Friday | 26th Sep 2025 | Seattle | 23 - 20 | Arizona |
| Friday | 3rd Oct 2025 | San Francisco | 26 - 23 (OT) | Los Angeles Rams |
| Friday | 10th Oct 2025 | Philadelphia | 17 - 34 | New York Giants |
| Friday | 17th Oct 2025 | Pittsburgh | 31 - 33 | Cincinnati |
| Friday | 24th Oct 2025 | Minnesota | 10 - 37 | Los Angeles Chargers |
| Friday | 31st Oct 2025 | Baltimore | 28 - 6 | Miami |
| Friday | 7th Nov 2025 | Las Vegas | 7 - 10 | Denver |
| Friday | 14th Nov 2025 | New York Jets | 14 - 27 | New England |
| Friday | 21st Nov 2025 | Buffalo | 19 - 23 | Houston |
| Friday | 28th Nov 2025 | Chicago | 24 - 15 | Philadelphia |
| Friday | 5th Dec 2025 | Dallas | 30 - 44 | Detroit |
| Friday | 12th Dec 2025 | Atlanta | 29 - 28 | Tampa Bay |
| Friday | 19th Dec 2025 | Los Angeles Rams | 37 (OT) - 38 | Seattle |
| Friday | 26th Dec 2025 | Denver | 20 - 13 | Kansas City |
*Note - dates and times are in GMT and may show a different day to the US schedule.
What Is Thursday Night Football?
Thursday Night Football, or TNF for short, is a relatively modern addition to the regular NFL schedule. However, it is not without precedent. ABC screened semi-regular Thursday Night games between 1978 and 1986, while ESPN has also occasionally utilised the Thursday Night slot over the years.
November 23, 2006, marked the first official Thursday Night Football game, as the Kansas City Chiefs saw off the Denver Broncos 19-10 at Arrowhead. TNF was initially a late-season only affair, making up part of the NFL Network’s eight-game “Run to the Playoffs” package. TNF now operates over a much longer window, generally from mid-September to late December.
Gradually expanding with each successive TV deal, Thursday Night Football has grown from five games to around 15-16 games per season. Thursday Night Football begins in Week 2 and continues throughout the regular season. The only Thursday fixtures not included in the TNF TV package are the season-opening NFL kick-off matchup and the Thanksgiving slate of games.
Thursday Night… or Friday Morning?
As the name suggests, Thursday Night Football games are played on a Thursday evening – or at least they are in the US, with games kicking off at 20:15 (ET).
In the UK, Thursday Night Football actually begins in the early hours of Friday morning, with kick-off scheduled for 1:15 a.m. (BST). The average NFL game lasts around three hours. As such, UK fans burning the midnight oil may need to keep the coffee brewing to make it to the end of the fourth quarter.
A Benefit to Teams, Broadcasters, and the NFL
With a packed schedule, many teams vie for national attention on a typical NFL Sunday. In contrast, as the only matchup of the day, Thursday Night Football places the two teams involved in front of a huge national and global audience.
This guaranteed focus benefit teams in several ways, including growing the fan base beyond their local market and boosting revenue. With team sponsors and advertisers also appreciating the larger audience, playing in TNF games can help franchises negotiate stronger commercial deals.
Well aware of the benefits of prime-time coverage, the NFL aims to allocate every franchise at least one prime-time slot each season. By adding Thursday Night Football to Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football, the league has more slots to play with.
Broadcasters place high value on prime-time games such as Thursday Night Football. As the only game of the day, the match is perfectly positioned to attract a large, concentrated audience. A bigger audience creates more advertising revenue for the broadcaster and puts the NFL in a strong position when negotiating broadcasting rights deals.
For the league, Thursday Night Football helps the NFL stretch its fixtures over a larger window, keeping fans engaged throughout the week. With the build-up to Thursday Night Football beginning on Wednesday and Monday Night Football dominating the sporting conversation on Tuesday, the story of the NFL now runs almost continuously throughout the week.
How Are Games Selected?
In common with the Premier League TV fixtures, Thursday Night Football games are chosen well in advance, with the schedulers attempting to select matchups likely to draw an audience. However, there are a few guidelines in place designed to ensure fairness.
In general, Thursday Night Games aim to minimise the travel demands placed on the teams, given the short Sunday to Thursday turnaround. If a team has played on the road on a Sunday, it is unlikely to be asked to play on the road again on Thursday Night Football. Overall, preference is given to games between sides located relatively close to one another.
While not every team is guaranteed a Thursday Night Football fixture, no franchise will be asked to play in more than two Thursday Night Football games in a single season.
Initially, some fans complained about the quality of Thursday Night Football, which was commonly viewed as inferior to Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football. Reacting to this, the NFL has permitted a tweak to the way in which games are chosen late in the season. Between Week 13 and Week 17, games may be moved from a Sunday slot to the Thursday Night Football slot with 21 days’ notice. This allows broadcasters to pick out tense divisional rivalries and games with significant playoff implications.
The selection of games appears to be striking the right note with viewers. Amazon, which holds the Thursday Night Football rights in the US, reported an average Thursday Night Football audience of 15.3 million viewers during the 2025 season – a new record for the big midweek game.
How to Watch Thursday Night Football in the UK
The 21st century has seen a surge in the popularity of the NFL in the UK. That popularity is mirrored by extensive TV coverage. UK fans subscribing to the NFL Game Pass can watch every match of the regular season, playoffs, and the Super Bowl; Sky Sports screens 170 live games each season, while Channel 5 leads the free-to-air coverage with regular live games on a Sunday evening. In terms of Thursday Night Football, UK fans have the following two options:
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the main TV broadcaster for the NFL in the UK. NFL coverage comes as part of the standard Sky Sports package, and includes Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and every Thursday Night Football game.
NFL Game Pass
NFL Game Pass is the official international streaming service of the NFL. Passes are available on a pay-monthly basis via both DAZN and Amazon Prime. Subscriptions provide live coverage of every NFL game, including Thursday Night Football matches.