Chiefs make 'aggressive' 2026 scheduling request with NFL: Kansas City pushing hard to play in these two games

The Chiefs have circled two dates on the 2026 schedule that they would love to be part of

Before the NFL starts the process of putting the schedule together, each team is allowed to make a few requests and the Kansas City Chiefs definitely took advantage of that this year. For the most part, the requests tend to stay between the team and the league, but that's not the case with Kansas City. 

Chiefs president Mark Donovan has revealed two of the scheduling requests that his team has made for 2026, so let's take a look at them and then break down whether the league will grant the Chiefs their wishes. 

Chiefs want to play in Spain

The Atlanta Falcons will be the home team for this year's game in Spain and the Chiefs want to be the visiting team, something they've emphasized in communications with the NFL. "We've been very open and aggressive with the league -- as we have been since the beginning -- that we want to play in Spain this year," Donovan said, via the Kansas City Star. "We think it would be a great market, game [and] matchup."

There are two things working in Kansas City's favor here. For one, the Chiefs have marketing rights in Spain. Kansas City is one of just three teams that has marketing rights in the country along with the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. The NFL played in Spain for the first time ever last year and the Dolphins played in that game, so it would make some sense to send Kansas City this year. 

The other thing working in the Chiefs' favor is that they're scheduled to play on the road against Atlanta this year. Since the Falcons will be hosting the game, it will come against one of the teams on their home schedule, which consists of the Panthers, Saints, Buccaneers, Bears, Lions, 49ers, Ravens, Bengals and Chiefs. Divisional games usually don't get moved to Europe and if you throw in the fact that the Lions and 49ers already have international games scheduled, that leaves just four realistic options (Bears, Ravens, Bengals, Chiefs). The Ravens are reportedly playing in Brazil this year against the Cowboys, and if that's the case, that would eliminate them, so then we're down to three options, so the Chiefs have to like their chances in that scenario. 

On the other hand, there's also a chance the NFL could deny the Chiefs' request. As we just mentioned, Chicago is also an option to play the Falcons in Madrid and the Bears also have marketing rights in Spain, so the NFL could certainly end up sending them to the Spanish capital instead of the Chiefs. 

And then there's the Bengals, who seem to be a wild card candidate. If the NFL doesn't want to upset the Bears or Chiefs, who both have marketing rights, they could send a team that doesn't have marketing rights. In this case, that would be Cincinnati, which is something the league is considering, according to Mike North, the NFL's Vice President of Broadcast Planning. Joe Burrow wanted to play in Spain last year and the league definitely took notice of it. 

"He's been vocal about it. I remember he was pretty disappointed last year when you guys didn't go," North said recently in an interview with Bengals.com. "I think that's a real possibility for the Bengals this year. .... Certainly, they're a candidate to go play Washington in London, certainly a candidate to go play Atlanta in Madrid."

The Chiefs have played at least one international game in two of the past three seasons with a game in Germany (2023) and a game in Brazil (2025) and they could add to that total this year. 

VERDICT: Don't book your ticket to Spain just yet if you're a Chiefs fan. 

Chiefs want to play on Christmas

The Chiefs have played on Christmas for three straight seasons, and now, they want to make it four in a row. 

"We'd love to play on Christmas," Donovan said, via ESPN. "We respect that the league wants to spread it around. We get it. Right now, we expect to be in a lot of prime-time games. We've made it pretty clear that our preference is to play at home on Christmas." 

This is one request that the Chiefs probably have a good chance of getting, especially with Christmas falling on a Friday this year. We already know there will be three games on Dec. 25 this year, which means that the NFL will need six teams to fill the Christmas schedule. With the holiday falling on a Friday, some teams might he hesitant to volunteer for a game due to the short week, so this could be a spot where the NFL gives the Chiefs what they want. 

Last year, the Chiefs actually asked the league if they could play on Christmas every year, but the NFL shot that idea down. In the short term, though, the Chiefs make sense. This could be Travis Kelce's final season and featuring him in a Christmas game with his new wife Taylor Swift in attendance -- they're expected to be married this summer -- seems like something the NFL would give some serious consideration to. 

VERDICT: Chiefs probably get their Christmas wish fulfilled. 

One more note: Chiefs likely won't open against the Seahawks

Seattle will be hosting the opening game of the NFL season and the Chiefs are a candidate to play in the game, but don't look for that to happen. 

Owner Clark Hunt said the league likely won't tab the Chiefs to play in that Wednesday game since't it's not yet clear if Patrick Mahomes would be available for the Sept. 9 game. "I don't think that's on the table anymore," Hunt said. "I think from a league standpoint, there would be some concern whether [Patrick Mahomes] would be ready to go."

Mahomes tore his ACL back in December and although he's aiming for a Week 1 return, there's no guarantee that's going to happen, and as Hunt said, the league wouldn't want to risk the chance of scheduling the Chiefs in a such a high-profile game if there's a chance that Mahomes might not play. 

With the Chiefs out of contention, the means Seattle will face one of the following teams in Week 1: The Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Chargers, Patriots or Cardinals. The 49ers and Rams also play in Seattle this year, but they're out of the running for the Week 1 game since they'll be facing each other in Australia.