C'est parti!
The 2026 NFL regular season schedule has been released, and even for a Steelers that has been in business since 1933 it can hold a surprise or two.
Tops on that list is the first NFL game ever played in France, with the Steelers in the role of the road team vs. the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Oct. 25 in Paris. Kickoff will be at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. The Steelers now have played regular season International Games in London (vs. Minnesota in 2013), in Dublin (vs. Minnesota in 2025), and now they are schedule to play one in Paris.
The other first for the Steelers will be a Week 12 game against Denver at Acrisure Stadium, because that will mark their first-ever appearance on the day after Thanksgiving, which is known throughout the world of retail as Black Friday. In 1946, the Steelers defeated the Chicago Cardinals, 14-7, on Friday, Sept. 20, but that was a couple of months before Thanksgiving.
"This will be the first time for a game in France," said Steelers President Art Rooney II, "and so it'll be a new experience for everybody. We'll be playing in a historic stadium (Stade de France) and certainly in a historic city. It will be very interesting, certainly an honor to be part of the first game in France."
The 2025 game in Dublin was a rousing success in large part because of the Rooney family's history in Ireland and the way Dan Rooney endeared himself to the country during his term as U.S. Ambassador from July 2009 to December 2012. The experience of playing in France promises to be completely different.
"It will be different," said Rooney. "We don't have control over the presentation of the game like we did in Ireland. And as you know, in Ireland, we succeeded in pretty much turning that into as close to a Steelers home game as you could get outside of Pittsburgh. So it'll be very different from that point of view. Unfortunately, we don't have access to as many tickets we would have as the home team, and so there will be some things that are different, but that comes with the territory when you're the road team."
Another perk for the home team in an International Game is that it gets first pick of the hotels and practice facilities.
"The League does a lot of investigation and clears the site for all of the long checklist of things that have to be in place in order for a city to host a game," said Rooney. "I know they've been talking with the authorities in France for a few years now, and so they're satisfied that everything is in place to make it successful. We're just getting into the investigation and due diligence on where we will stay and where we will practice. There's still some work to do on that front."
There is less work to do for Black Friday, because Steelers vs. Denver on Nov. 27 will be the fourth time the NFL has played a regular season game on the day after Thanksgiving. In 2023, the Dolphins defeated the Jets in Miami; in 2024, the Chiefs defeated the Raiders in Kansas City; and in 2025, the Eagles defeated the Bears in Philadelphia.
"There is an appetite for NFL games, it seems, at all times of day and on all days of the week, and this one will be a new experience for us," said Rooney about Black Friday. "We've hosted some games on holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas in particular, and it's always gone pretty well. I actually think that the day after Thanksgiving will be pretty well received, and I expect we'll have a great show."
Something else about the 2026 schedule that's different for the Steelers, but not historically different, is that their home opener also will be their regular season opener. In the 15 seasons from 2010-2025, the Steelers opened at home just four times – in 2010 vs. Atlanta, in 2013 vs. Tennessee, in 2014 vs. Cleveland, and in 2023 vs. San Francisco.
"If you have an opportunity to open at home, open the season at home, it's better," said Rooney. "So we always look forward to when we get that opportunity. It seems like we don't have that opportunity that often, so we appreciate the opportunity of doing that and opening up at home."
Rooney said some of the other elements of the schedule he always checks are the distribution of games against AFC North opponents, the number of night games on the road, and what the schedule has in store for the Steelers during the final weeks of the regular season.
Of the Steelers' six division games, three will be played before the Nov. 8 bye, and three will be played after; there are 3 night games on the road – at Cleveland, at Cincinnati, and at Jacksonville; and over the final four weeks of the regular season the team is scheduled for 2 home games and two road games.
"I think it's spread out fairly evenly there over the last few weeks," said Rooney. "Being on the road the last two weekends in a row is not ideal, but we can't complain because we've got two home games before those two road games."
If there is something of an unknown during that stretch it is that the Week 16 game against Carolina at Acrisure Stadium is listed as TBD across the board – date, day, and time.
"The League has been holding back the days and times of the games around Christmas weekend the last few years," said Rooney. "They sort of all become a flex game, and so we won't know our day and time until probably sometime in December for that one, which is the way they've done it the last few years.
"Christmas is actually on a Friday this year, so I would expect (on Week 16) there will be a Thursday night game, a Friday game, and possibly a Saturday, Sunday, and a Monday game. Almost a week full of games. At least that's what I would expect. And as you know, Christmas has become a good time for NFL schedulers to find new windows to place games in. I think you'll see a pretty good stretch of days in a row where there will be an NFL game this year."
On a final footnote to this schedule, Rooney said the team likely will wear its Color Rush uniforms for one of the night games at home, and that the Throwbacks for the upcoming season again will be the replica of the uniform the franchise wore in its inaugural season of 1933. And that again will come with the gold helmets.
"We'll wear our Throwbacks for one of the feature games," said Rooney. "We're still working through the schedule, and I'm sure we'll be announcing that in the coming weeks."
For the Steelers, it's Here We Go! Or as they say in Paris, "C'est parti!
