The 2025-26 NFL season ended with the Seattle Seahawks conquering the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX to win their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. With that, it's time to focus on the next championship game.
Super Bowl LXI, the title game for the 2026 NFL season, is scheduled for Sunday, February 14, 2027, and will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The NFL made it official on December 13, 2023, confirming both the date and site for the game.
Super Bowl LXI will be special for several historical reasons. It will be the first Super Bowl ever played on Valentine's Day and the latest-ending season in NFL history. The timing places the game on Presidents' Day weekend for the first time. This late finish is tied directly to the league's move to a 17-game regular-season schedule in 2021 and the calendar alignment created by Labor Day falling on September 7, the latest possible date. As is tradition, the NFL season begins the Thursday after Labor Day, which pushes the postseason deeper into February.
The venue, SoFi Stadium, will host the Super Bowl for the second time. The stadium previously staged Super Bowl LVI in 2022, when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23–20 on their home field. SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020, serves as the home of both the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers. The facility typically seats around 70,000 fans and can be expanded to over 100,000 for major events. Construction of the stadium exceeded $5 billion, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built.
Super Bowl LXI will be the ninth Super Bowl hosted by the Greater Los Angeles area. Two early games were played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967 and 1973, followed by five at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (1977, 1980, 1983, 1987, and 1993). After Super Bowl LVI in 2022, LXI will be the second at SoFi Stadium. Only New Orleans and Miami, with 11 Super Bowls each, have hosted more championship games than the Los Angeles metro area.
Super Bowl LXI will also break new ground broadcast-wise. The game will air nationally on ESPN and ABC for the first Super Bowl broadcast in ESPN's history and the first Super Bowl shown on ABC since Super Bowl XL in 2006. The broadcast is part of the NFL's 11-year television contract, which rotates Super Bowl rights among CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC/ESPN. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the game, their seventh Super Bowl together and their first with ESPN. ESPN has also confirmed that the “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli” alternate telecast will be part of the coverage.
Radio coverage in the United States will be handled by Westwood One, which holds the league's national radio rights. Internationally, the game will air on 5 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, on ESPN and Disney+ across Latin America, and on TBC in Germany and Austria.
Super Bowl LXI will follow a season that includes an NFL-record nine international games. Looking beyond 2027, the league announced on October 15, 2024, that Super Bowl LXII will be played on February 13, 2028, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
