The Las Vegas Raiders will not appear in a primetime slot on the 2026 NFL schedule released Thursday, joining the Jets, Titans, Cardinals and Dolphins as the only teams without a night game. Despite drafting quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick and generating significant buzz, the league’s broadcast planners are taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Not to be flip, but we don’t draft our way into primetime. We play our way into primetime,” said Mike North, NFL Vice President of Broadcast Planning, during a Friday conference call.
The Raiders are coming off a 3-14 season but have added veteran Kirk Cousins as a bridge starter, leaving Mendoza’s timeline uncertain. North acknowledged that knowing whether Mendoza would start would have been helpful for scheduling, but said, “Nobody knows if or when Mendoza might play. It’s certainly something where it would be great if we knew. We don’t.”
Flexible scheduling provides a path to primetime later in the season. Sunday Night Football games can be flexed starting Week 5, while Monday and Thursday night moves begin in Weeks 12 and 13, respectively. North noted that if the Raiders hover around .500 and remain playoff relevant, they could be moved into bigger windows.
“They went out and signed a very competent veteran quarterback and if they find themselves hovering around .500 and playoff relevant in the middle of the season, they might be a little reluctant to pull the trigger and move to the rookie,” North said. “And if they are playoff relevant, they will find themselves flexed into bigger national television windows whether it’s Sunday night or Monday night or just a bigger footprint on a Sunday afternoon.”
The Raiders also do not have an international game this season, extending the longest drought in the league without a game outside the United States. North emphasized that Sunday afternoons remain critical, with 30-35 million viewers at 1 p.m. Eastern, and that 4:25 p.m. national windows often draw larger audiences than primetime games.
