Every important date to know for 2023-24 NFL season
By Peter Panacy
Mark your calendars for these important dates and deadlines on the 2023-24 NFL schedule.
Technically, the start of the 2023-24 NFL season began on March 15, which coincides with the league new year. That's also when free agency began, even though teams negotiated with players two days before, and that segwayed into the always-entertaining NFL Draft season.
Then, the boring hiatus.
The NFL is back, though, and the real calendar kicks off with the annual Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio, which is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies for this year's class.
This year, the beginning of the preseason will feature both the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets in a meaningless but "thank goodness football is back" showdown on Thursday, Aug. 3.
The preseason begins shortly thereafter.
So, fans of both the San Francisco 49ers and the rest of the NFL, mark your calendars for these important dates on the upcoming 2023-24 season.
List of important dates on NFL schedule for 2023-24 season
Aug. 10-13: Preseason Week 1
Aug. 17-21: Preseason Week 2
Aug. 24-27: Preseason Week 3
Aug. 29: By 4 p.m. ET, all teams must establish a 53-man active roster from the 90-man offseason rosters by waiving, releasing or trading players to trim down the roster.
The following day at 12 p.m. ET, the waiver period for teams to claim waived players ends, and teams can begin formulating 16-man practice squads.
Sept. 7: Opening night on Thursday Night Football between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Sept. 10-11: Remaining Week 1 games.
Oct. 31: NFL trade deadline. Teams have until 4 p.m. ET to execute team-to-team trades.
After this deadline, trades cannot commence until the beginning of the 2024 league new year the following March.
Jan. 6-7: Week 18, final regular-season weekend of the NFL schedule. No Thursday Night Football or Monday Night Football games to be played this final weekend.
Read more: What is the 49ers schedule for the 2023 season?
Jan. 13-14: NFL playoffs begin with Wild Card weekend.
The top seed in each conference receives a first-round bye and an automatic trip to the divisional round the following weekend.
Jan. 20-21: Divisional round of the NFL playoffs, which features the final four teams from each conference.
Jan. 27-28: NFC Championship games with the two remaining teams in each conference playing each other for the right to advance to the Super Bowl.
Jan. 31-Feb. 6: Pro Bowl festivities.
Feb. 11: Super Bowl LVIII to be played between the winner of the AFC and NFC at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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