Which NFL team should you support? — SkimNews
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- NFL opens its 2026 season Wednesday (01:20 BST Thursday) at Lumen Field with the Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots — 213 days after the Seahawks won Super Bowl 60 against the same opponent and seeking to become only the ninth back-to-back champion.
- Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots share the all-time Super Bowl lead with six titles apiece, all six of the Patriots' coming under Bill Belichick since 2000; 12 franchises have never won, including the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, who have each lost four.
- The Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and Green Bay Packers, all founded in the 1920s, are the league's oldest franchises, while the Houston Texans, founded in 2002, are the newest.
- East Coast teams — the Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Giants, and Jets — are closest to a UK centre point in Lancashire at just over 3,000 miles, while the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams are furthest away at 5,263 miles.
- AT&T Stadium in Dallas leads the NFL in average attendance over the past five seasons; Soldier Field in Chicago is the only venue averaging under 60,000, and the Bears are developing plans for a replacement across the state border in Hammond, Indiana.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars have played 14 games in London since 2013 — more than any other franchise — and will extend that lead with back-to-back UK games in October.
- The NFL has nine international games scheduled for 2026, headlined by its first Australia fixture (49ers vs. Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on opening weekend) and a Dallas Cowboys vs. Baltimore Ravens matchup at Rio's Maracanã in late September.
Why it matters: The NFL is staging nine international games in 2026 — including a maiden Australia fixture and a Rio matchup at the Maracanã — pushing deeper into overseas markets, while UK fans get more live action than ever via the Jaguars' 14th London appearance and back-to-back October games. The BBC's data-driven guide also makes plain how concentrated the league's history is: six franchises have never won a Super Bowl, while just two account for more than a third of all titles ever played.
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