The 2017 NFL schedule is officially here, which means it’s time to start selling football season! On Thursday night the NFL announced the full 2017 schedule, sending football fans everywhere into chatter.

The 2017-18 season  will kick off with the New England Patriots hosting AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, September 7, in Foxborough, MA at 8:30pm EST.

The schedule release comes after months of deliberation and adjustments, with the whole process beginning the day after the regular season ends. From the looks of it, last year’s ratings slide made a great impact on the league’s schedule-making process. This year, the league packed its prime-time schedule with the most well-watched teams: Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. Keep an eye out for these games as they are sure to be some of the most exciting ones of the season.

According to the National Association of Sports Commissions, “sports tourism was a $9.45 Billion industry in 2015.” Get your clients into the game with Events 365 while earning commissions. Find out which are football fans, and ask them which match-ups they’ve been dying to see & which city they would like to visit for a weekend trip to see their favorite team play on the road. How about an international trip? There are 4 games scheduled in London this year & 1 game in Mexico City.

View the full schedule here & see how it’s made here.

Get your clients into the game here & pre-season games here!

Read on to learn more about some of the most highly anticipated matches:

1. Week 1: Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
   1. These are two of the NFC’s best, and we have Russell Wilson against Aaron Rodgers.
2. Week 1: NY Giants at Dallas Cowboys
   1. This will be the third straight year that the rivals open against each other.
3. Week 2: Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons
   1. This is a rematch of the NFC Championship Game won by the Falcons.  But this will also be the first game inside the Falcons’ new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which brings even more intrigue.
4. Week 2: New York Jets at Oakland Raiders
   1. It will be their first home game since the team announced they would be moving to Las Vegas, which was approved by the league’s owners. How will the Oakland fans respond to the Raiders now that they are going? Will it get nasty? Will they show up? Will they care as much?
5. Week 5: Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys
   1. The Packers went into AT&T Stadium and upset the Cowboy in the NFC divisional round of the playoffs last January. That has to sting still for Dallas, which thought it was on its way to a Super Bowl.
6. Week 7: Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots
   1. They Falcons blew a 25-point, second-half lead in the Super Bowl in February, losing to the Patriots in overtime
7. Week 10: Dallas Cowboys at Atlanta Falcons
   1. This is the game many expected to see in the NFC Championship Game last January, but the Cowboys were upset at home by the Packers. It will be interesting to see if Atlanta’s undersized defense can hold up against the powerful Dallas offensive line.
8. Week 11: New England Patriots at Oakland Raiders (In Mexico City)
   1. Many expected this would be the AFC Championship Game last season. Now they get to face New England on foreign soil in what should be a raucous stadium to show they are ready to challenge the Patriots for the title this season.
9. Week 12: Green Bay Packers at Pittsburg Steelers
   1. These two legendary franchises on prime time, with two great passers (in Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger) is a guaranteed to be a show.
10. Week 15: New England Patriots at Pittsburg Steelers
    1. The Patriots blew out the Steelers 36-17 in the AFC Championship Game last year.
11. Week 16 : Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys
    1. Two tough, physical teams
    2. The Steelers will face off against the Chiefs and the Patriots. The Packers take on the Cowboys and the Falcons, and the Falcons also will meet the Seahawks.

Who has the toughest schedules?

The Dallas Cowboys

Their division, the NFC East, is a strong and competitive one that faces many non-conference games against a similarly deep AFC West. What’s more? The Cowboys finish with three out of four games on the road. Their only home game in December will be played against a strong Seattle team.

The Oakland Raiders

In order to be able to play in Mexico City, the Raiders gave up a home game against the Patriots. It goes without saying that this is a matchup home town fans would have loved to have seen in Oakland. The Raiders also play Christmas night in Philadelphia before heading to Los Angeles to play the Chargers.

The Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs play six prime time games. They have one of the toughest assignments of the season with Week 1 in Foxborough and short week games (requiring teams to play on a Sunday and then on a Thursday) in Oakland and Dallas.

Cleveland Browns

They have to give up a home game to play abroad. One of the two teams who, sadly, with play the season without a prime-time game scheduled.

Tuesday Trivia Night freebies:

“Bye” A bye is a special privilege given to a team in the initial rounds because of which it gets exempted from playing in the first round and directly enters the second round. … In sports that are played weekly, especially football, a team that does not play at all during a given week is said to be on its “bye week”. (Source)

The first Monday night game will be Broncos kicking off the 2017 season at home, welcoming the Los Angeles Chargers to Mile High Stadium.

Get your clients into the show!