The 2026 NFL Regular Season starts with the two teams we saw play in Super Bowl LX, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, opening the new season at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday—yes, Wednesday—night (NBC, 8:20 EDT/7:20 CDT/5:20 PDT).

The 2026 NCAA College Football season opened up with NC and TCU playing in the Aer Lingus Classic on the Emerald Isle in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday, while the 2026 NFL Season will open in the Emerald City, home of the NFL champ Seahawks, looking to defend and maybe start a dynasty.

Defense wins championships, and winning on the road in amateur and pro sports wins championships; QB Sam Darnold, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Seattle (17-3) had a solid defense (15.0 PPG, #7), and the Seahawks went 8-1 away and won the SB at a neutral site.

Some things have changed for Seattle. SB LX MVP Kenneth Walker III (KC) has gone down the red-and-gold brick road, and the team was sold by the Paul Allen Estate (MSFT) to a group of investors led by Vinod Khosla (Sun Microsystems) for an NFL-record $9.612 billion on July 11.

There will be 272 NFL games this 2026-27 NFL Regular Season, including a record 9 international games to be contested outside of the US in London, England (3), Paris, France (1), Melbourne, Australia (1), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1), Munich, Germany (1), Madrid, Spain (1), and Mexico City (1).

ome storylines include Aaron Rodgers returning for his final season as the Steelers' QB in 2026, and 2025 Heisman Trophy Winner Fernando Mendoza starting his NFL career in Las Vegas with the Raiders after leading Indiana University to its first-ever NCAA Football Championship earlier in 2026.

For prediction markets, the National Football League is the big dog, the same reality that exists for online and brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. After expanding the RS schedule from 16 to 17 games, league officials are now considering an 18-game NFL schedule. Expect that to happen.

The NFL once opened up seasons on Sundays, the holy day of pro football for the previous millennium. Still, in 2022, the league decided to hype up the start of the new season by putting a high-profile game on a Thursday island and in primetime. This is the first NFL season opener played on a Wednesday since 2012.

The AFC has fallen off some with the aging of the Chiefs (Mahomes, Kelce, Reid), the Bills' ability to close out games, and the AFC South and AFC North failing to produce any conference champion worth crowing about. The Patriots had a dream run last season behind Drake Maye but are young.

At Polymarket in the Pro Football: 2027 AFC Champion exchange ($3,665,185 on September 6), it was Josh Allen and the Bills (16%) who the traders were buying, followed by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens (14%), the Chargers (11%), the defending champ Pats (10%), and the Chiefs (10%).

The midshots were the Texans (9%), Broncos (9%), Bengals (7%), Jaguars (6%), Colts (3%), Steelers (2%), Dolphins (1%), Jets (1%), Titans (1%), and Raiders (1%). The AFC bottom-feeders? The lowly Browns aren’t even at 1%. At least Ohio has three good teams (Bengals, Ohio State, and Miami).

🚦Trading Thoughts: KC has made it to the Super Bowl five times in six seasons, but Andy Reid and his boys are getting long in the tooth, including QB Pat Mahomes (30) and 11-time Pro Bowl TE Travis Kelce (36), who have trained hard this offseason, but still, Father Time gives zero rips.

Adding RB Kenneth Walker to rush the pigskin could take some pressure off the Chiefs' passing game, which, along with the defense, will be the reason this team wins the AFC Championship. The Bills will need a healthy Allen, RB James Cook to shine again, and some luck to get to Inglewood.

The Chiefs and Bills don’t seem deep enough at the WR position, while QB Joe Burrow and the Bengals (Chase, Higgins) and QB Drake Maye and the Patriots (Brown, Doubs). Three great D’s are in the AFC: the Texans, Broncos, and Patriots. Can we trust Houston and Denver to score?

Buffalo, Cincinnati, and defending champions NE are the best three in the AFC. Burrow will need to stay healthy, and Buffalo has an edge as Allen is much sturdier and can rush when needed. At least the Bills (21.5 PPG allowed) and Pats (18.8 PPG) play D. The Bengals (28.9 PPG, #30) don’t.

🏈Pro Football: 2027 AFC Champion Picks: Bills, Yes, 16¢, Ravens, No, 87¢, Texans, No, 90¢

The NFC has won the last two Super Bowls (Eagles, Seahawks) and will probably win it again this time around, but will it be the Los Angeles Rams, the Seattle Seahawks repeating, the Philadelphia Eagles re-emerging, or maybe Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears shocking the NFL world?

In the Pro Football: 2027 NFC Champion exchange ($6,303,172 on September 6), the Rams (26%) were the big favorites at Polymarket on August 28, followed by the Super Bowl champ Seahawks (13%), Lions (8.8%), Eagles (8.6%), 49ers (8%), Cowboys (7%), Packers (7%), and the Bears (7%).

The NFC longshots are the Vikings (3%), Buccaneers (3%), Panthers (3%), Giants (2%), Commanders (2%), Saints (1%), Falcons (1%), and Cardinals (1%). The public has voted on who the worst teams are, the Sloppy Six: the Browns, Raiders, Jets, Dolphins, Titans, and Cardinals.

🚦Trading Thoughts: So the NFC has the most good teams but still maybe only two great teams (LA, SEA) and maybe the worst conference overall in the NFC South (ATL-CAR-NO-TB). Who is the best QB in this division? We laugh together now, then realize our own QBs are suspect at best.

Eliminate the NFC South and aging Jalen Hurts and the schizophrenic NFC East, and it’s essentially a battle between the three dogs in the NFC North (CHI-DET-GB) and the three titans in the NFC West (LA-SEA-SF). SF has way too many injuries and off-the-field issues, and Detroit is Detroit.

That means trusting Caleb Williams and the Bears to have another dream season and go even farther than they did last year. Chicagoans live with high anxiety. The Cheeseheads will need QB Jordan Love to be great and healthy, and asking both is asking for one too many. That leaves...

🏈Pro Football: 2027 NFC Champion Picks: Rams, Yes, 26¢, Seahawks, Yes, 13¢

The Super Bowl will be played on Valentine's Day (February 14) in 2027 at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, and the home of QB Matt Stafford, RB Kyren Williams, WR Puka Nacua, and the Los Angeles Rams—the team favored by all to win the game.

But first you gotta get there, brother, and simply making it through the stronger National Football Conference (NFC) won’t be easy for the Rams (16% chance to win SB), nor will navigating the NFL’s toughest conference, the NFC West, where the defending champs Seattle and the 49ers live.

Last year, the Pro Football: 2026 Champion market did $704,096,823 in volume (Polymarket), and this year before the first snap, we see $47,707,650 (August 29) and counting. I repeat: The NFL is king. Following the Rams are the Bills (9%), Seahawks (8%), Ravens (7%), and Chiefs (6%).

Following at 5% were the Cowboys, Chargers, Broncos, Texans, and Eagles, with the 49ers, Lions, and Bengals at 4%, the Patriots, Bears, Jaguars, and Packers at 3%, and everyone else in the league trading at 1%, except the lowly Las Vegas Raiders (<1%) and Arizona Cardinals (<1%).

🚦Trading Thoughts: There are only a handful of teams who can win the Super Bowl, with the majority in the NFC (Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit), with the AFC again the weaker conference, with only the Bills, Patriots, and maybe Chiefs or Broncos worthy.

All of these teams—but the Falcons (2017), Buccaneers (2022), Bengals (2022)—have made it to the Super Bowl, and Buffalo, Green Bay, and Detroit haven’t. The NFC West (3) and NFC East (2) have been in the last 5 SBs. KC has been in 4 of the last 6. The NFC West is where the champs live.

🏈Pro Football: 2027 NFL Champion Winner Picks: Rams, Yes, 16¢, Seahawks, Yes, 8¢

The Earnings Calendar is slim this week, limited to a handful of companies reporting Q2 earnings on Tuesday, September 8, and with Chewy (CHWY) the lone dog reporting on Wednesday, September 9. Who’s a good boy?

United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Korn Ferry (KFY) will report premarket on Tuesday, with Casey’s General Stores (CASY), GameStop (GME), and Braze (BRZE) all reporting after the closing bell.

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) will report its Q1 Fiscal Year 2027 results after the closing bell on Thursday, September 10, which is given an 87% chance of beating Q1 Fiscal Year 2027 results (August 28). You can listen to or watch the webcast of the Oracle 2027 Q1 Earnings Call report by accessing the company’s Investor Relations Page.

Oracle (NYSE) is the company that acquired Sun Microsystems from co-founder Vinod Khosla—one of the new owners of the NFL’s Seahawks—in 2010. Oracle is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and its stock was down around 22% YTD, trading at $152.95 on August 29.

Famous for the Oracle Cloud, the company has a market cap of $434.519 billion, and the stock’s 52-week high was on September 10, 2025 ($345.72)—an All-Time High (ATH)—with its 52-week low on July 28, 2026 ($114. 50), so this has been a bad six months for the gentle software giant.

Co-founder Larry Ellison is still the bigwig at Oracle, acting as the company’s executive chairman and CTO. He currently ranks #7 on the Forbes Real-Time Top Billionaires List, with a net worth of $193.68 billion, behind Elon Musk, Larry Page, Jeffrey Bezos, Sergey Brin, Michael Dell, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Click here for the Weekly Earnings Predictions Calendar at Polymarket

In the Top Song on Spotify 2026 at the aforementioned OG Prediction Markets, it’s still way too early to call a winner. Still, a few songs have really garnered the interest of traders, including the current leader there, “End of the Beginning” by Djo with 79% on September 6.

Following in trading order were “Babydoll” (43%) by Dominic Fike, “DtMF” by Bad Bunny (35%), “I Just Might” by Bruno Mars (33%), “SWIM” by BTS (32%), “Aperture” by Harry Styles (25%), “Golden” by HUNTR/X (22%), and “The Fate of Ophelia” by Taylor Swift (14%).

Last year, in 2025, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars had the top song globally on the popular music streaming service with “Die With A Smile.” At Polymarket, “End of the Beginning” (54%) and “Babydoll” (26%) were also 1-2 in late August, so we will see what transpires from here on out.

➤Trading Thoughts: It would appear “End of the Beginning” by Djo will win, but there is still time for a song or two to make a run with four months left in 2026.

Speculation that Taylor Swift may drop a new album needs to be worked into the handicap of this popular market ($59,146 volume on OG Prediction Markets, $235,259 on Kalshi, August 22). Still, time is the enemy, and who knows what type of album the superstar may deliver next.

Swift just got married this Summer, so expecting an album before wedding pictures may be a stretch? On July 16, “End of the Beginning” was trading at 7% at Kalshi, and now it’s at 57% a little more than a month later. It’s probably best to respect the wisdom of the masses in this market.

🎙️2026 Spotify Song of the Year Winner Picks: “End of the Beginning,” Yes 79¢

Polymarket has a neat market for the poker crowd in the 2026 WSOP: Player of the Year Winner, where 40-year-old American Shaun Deeb (28%) is given the best chance to win the title by traders, with Eelis Pärssinen (27%) the only player even close on September 6 ($36,204 volume).

William Foxen (21%), Biao Ding (9%), Alex Anton (7%), Calvin Anderson (7%), Aaron Kupin (7%), Joao Simao (6%), Thomas Hall (6%), poker legend Daniel Negreanu (6%), Arthur Martirosian (5%), Naoya Kihara (5%), and Naseem Salem (5%)) followed in this now wide-open awards market.

Deeb is the defending WSOP Player of the Year and the Troy, NY native also won the award in 2018, and he has won three World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP). He ranks seventh on the all-time bracelet list with 9, and he has made 59 final tables and finished in the money 264 times.

Deeb—who retired from poker for 2 months at age 24—finished an impressive 15th at the 2026 WSOP Main Event here in Las Vegas, and he also holds one European Poker Tour title. Deeb also won Event #74 ($1,500 8-Game Mix) at the 2026 WSOP, earning $181,625 for that 9th bracelet.

With that win, Deeb drew even with WSOP and poker legend Johnny Moss, American Michael Mizrachi, and Englishman Benny Glaser.

❂2026 WSOP: Player of the Year Winner Pick: Shaun Deeb, Yes 30.3¢

Now that the Qualifying Stage is over, the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League tournament shifts into the League Phase of play (September 8, 2026-January 27, 2026) before the KO Phase (February 17), R16 (March 9), Quarters (April 6), Semis (April 27) and Final (June 5) go on.​

On Tuesday in UCL League Phase play at Santiago Bernabéu (Mixto Hybrid Grass) in Madrid, Spain, Kylian Mbappé and Real Madrid host Lautaro Martínez and Serie A powers Inter Milan in the tournament opener for both historic European clubs (Paramount+, 3 EDT/2 CDT/12 PDT).​

At Polymarket in the Real Madrid CF – FC Internazionale Milano exchange, traders have GK Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham, and Real Madrid as solid 61% favorites over Inter Milan (19%), with a Draw (Tie) trading at 22% on September 6. The Total was Over 3.5 at Yes 43¢, No 58¢.

🚦Trading Thoughts: There are five elite Euro soccer clubs, and Real Madrid is one of them. With new manager José Mourinho, Los Blancos plan to battle La Liga rivals Barça, Bundesliga giants Bayern, defending UCL champs PSG, and EPL kings Arsenal for supremacy on the continent.

Inter Milan is on the outside looking in on those five, but so are teams like Manchester City, Madrid’s other rivals Atlético Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund. And the rich got richer over the summer with Marc Cucurella (CFC) and Yan Diomandé (RB Leipzig) joining Los Blancos.

In the last 5 series meetings—four since 2020 and all in UCL play—Real Madrid has dominated Inter, going a perfect 5-0-0 (11 GF-2 GA) with Courtois and RM notching 4 Clean Sheets, and three straight. Inter hasn’t scored a goal on Real Madrid since November 3, 2020 (UCL Group Stage).

⚽2026 UCL League Phase Match Picks: Real Madrid, Yes, 61¢, Both Teams To Score, No, 39¢

We have a can’t-miss NL Central matchup on tap between the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers (88-55, 47-25 Home) and the Chicago Cubs (81-62, 40-31 Road) at American Family Field (Kentucky Bluegrass) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday night (MLB.tv, 7:40 ET/4:40 PT).​

Why can’t-miss? Because this is a game that really matters to both, and two of the best players in MLB will be on display: Cubs OF and MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brewers flame-throwing young RHP Jacob Misiorowski, an NL Cy Young candidate and now staff ace.​

RHP Jacob Misiorowski (14-5, 1.97 ERA) is scheduled to get the pill for the home BrewCrew, with LHP David Peterson (7-8, 5.39, 1.56 WHIP) getting the start for the Cubbies, who definitely won’t be catching the Brewers in the division race in September.​

🚦Trading Thoughts: The Cubs-Brewers rivalry has really aged well this decade, and these two may very well meet again in the 2026 MLB Playoffs in the NLDS or NLCS round. Milwaukee led the series heading into today's (Monday’s) Game 1 in America’s Dairyland (Peterson-Gasser).

Suggesting traders or gamblers back The Miz isn’t really like offering handicapping advice, but more like a reminder not to miss this one, however you use or don’t use it in your portfolio. You’ll pay a premium for the man 89% of Kalshi traders predict will be the NL Cy Young Award winner.

Kalshi had Milwaukee at 63% in early trading for the game with Chicago at 40% (September 6).

⚾MLB Tuesday Night Pick: Brewers, Yes, 63¢ (Kalshi)

The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will kick off the 2026 NFL Regular Season at Lumen Field (FieldTurf CORE) in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday night (NBC, 8:20 ET/7:20 CT/5:20 PT) with a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl won by the NFC champ Seahawks (29-13).

In the NE Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks NFL Week 1 Kalshi market, traders like Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the Seahawks (61%) vs Drake Maye, AJ Brown, and the Patriots (39%). The Total is 44.5, with the Point Spread seeing Seattle -3.5. Are you ready for some football?

As good as Seattle was on the Road last season 8-1 plus won the Super Bowl at a neutral site), the Patriots were even better, going a perfect 8-0 away from Foxborough in the RS and 1-0 in the AFC playoffs before new coach Mike Vrabel and his squad finally lost at the neutral-site Super Bowl.

🚦Trading Thoughts: Seattle boasts the 12th man, and on this night, will be holding its Super Bowl LX banner ceremony before the game, so free energy? This is the city that gave us Microsoft (MSFT—NASDAQ), Amazon (AMZN—NASDAQ), and Starbucks (SBUX—NASDAQ), so stand back.

Toss in the fact that it's the first NFL game of the year and only the 56th Wednesday game in NFL league history, and you expect the Pacific Northwest natives to be really restless in the Emerald City. The big question is: do you want to play the 3 or 3.5 and play the Total?

The Weather forecast for Seattle on Wednesday calls for a High of 77° F, partly cloudy skies with N Winds around 7 mph (gusts to 14 mph) at Lumen Field. Perfect for football. The Seahawks should try to break RB Zach Charbonnet in if he is healthy (Knee).​

🏈NFL Season Opener Wednesday Night Picks: Seahawks, Yes, 63¢, Over 45.5, No, 55¢

➠”In the next issue of The Prediction Report, we will look at the #1 Ohio State vs. #4 Texas NCAAF Collision in Austin, the Rams vs 49ers game in Melbourne, Australia, the Kalshi calibration study, President Trump’s teleprompter guy being fined, another Emmy category, and a preview for the NCAAF Missouri-Kansas and NFL Bills-Texans games this weekend.”