2026 Schedule By The Numbers

February 12, 2026
By Evan Lepler

Doubleheaders and interdivisional drama. 

If you were to ask me what stands out most about the recently released 2026 UFA schedule, it’d be those two things, and not necessarily in that order. 

The 132-game regular-season journey will begin on April 24, and there will be 43 games on Fridays, 69 on Saturdays, and 18 on Sundays. At least, that’s the plan as of mid-February, before Mother Nature’s spring lightning has its say. 

Any savvy math folks realize that 43 plus 69 plus 18 doesn’t add up to 132? 

Indeed, that’s because not all the games are scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

On Thursday, June 18, Salt Lake will play at Madison. And on Wednesday, July 1, New York will travel to Philadelphia. These non-weekend games are rare but not unprecedented, and they give teams a chance to see how fans respond to the midweek setting. 

Here’s a look at the full schedule breakdown by week and day: 

  • Week 1 (April 24-26): 6 games — 2 Fri, 3 Sat, 1 Sun
  • Week 2 (May 1-3): 10 games — 2 Fri, 6 Sat, 2 Sun
  • Week 3 (May 8-10): 11 games — 1 Fri, 7 Sat, 3 Sun
  • Week 4 (May 15-17): 11 games — 4 Fri, 6 Sat, 1 Sun
  • Week 5 (May 22-24): 6 games — 0 Fri, 4 Sat, 2 Sun
  • Week 6 (May 29-31): 13 games — 4 Fri, 6 Sat, 3 Sun
  • Week 7 (June 5-7): 11 games — 5 Fri, 6 Sat, 0 Sun
  • Week 8 (June 12-14): 13 games — 4 Fri, 7 Sat, 2 Sun
  • Week 9 (June 18-21): 11 games — 1 Thurs, 5 Fri, 5 Sat, 0 Sun
  • Week 10 (June 26-28): 7 games — 4 Fri, 3 Sat, 0 Sun
  • Week 11 (July 1-5): 11 games — 1 Wed, 4 Fri, 4 Sat, 2 Sun
  • Week 12 (July 10-12): 9 games — 4 Fri, 4 Sat, 1 Sun
  • Week 13 (July 17-19): 13 games — 4 Fri, 8 Sat, 1 Sun

Meanwhile, for the first time in UFA history, every single team will play at least one interdivisional game during the upcoming season. The Pittsburgh Thunderbirds will play nearly half of their 2026 slate—five of their 12 games—against opponents that are not in their division.

Overall, the T-Birds are the outlier more than the norm, as 19 of the league’s 22 franchises will play at least three-quarters of their games against their own division. But with 24 interdivisional matchups on the schedule—including a bunch of never-before-seen showdowns like Minnesota-Oakland, Colorado-DC, and Toronto-Seattle—there’s a slew of fascinating dynamics in play in terms of the varying strengths of the divisions.

Since 2023, the East and South have been the league’s two strongest sections going by interdivisional record, but there's no guarantee those numbers will trend the exact same way this summer. 

Interdivisional Records by Division (2023-25, including Championship Weekend)

East: 20-9 (.690)
South: 19-17 (.528)
Central: 12-17 (.414)
West: 10-18 (.357)

Here’s the full list of interdivisional games:

  • Saturday, May 9 — Philadelphia @ Carolina — 5th meeting (Flyers lead 3-1) 
  • Sunday, May 10 — Montreal @ Pittsburgh — 1st ever meeting
  • Friday, May 15 — Colorado @ DC — 1st ever meeting
  • Saturday, May 16 — Colorado @ New York — 2nd meeting (Empire lead 1-0)
  • Sunday, May 17 — San Diego @ Oakland — 27th meeting (Series tied 13-13)
  • Friday, May 29 — Pittsburgh @ New York — 3rd meeting (Empire lead 2-0)
  • Saturday, May 30 — Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia — 7th meeting (Phoenix lead 5-1)
  • Saturday, May 30 — San Diego @ Oakland — 28th meeting (Series tied 13-13)
  • Saturday, May 30 — Seattle @ Houston — 1st ever meeting
  • Sunday, May 31 — Seattle @ Austin — 3rd meeting (Series tied 1-1)
  • Friday, June 5 — Carolina @ DC — 10th meeting (DC leads 6-3)
  • Saturday, June 6 — Carolina @ Pittsburgh — 6th meeting (Carolina leads 5-0)
  • Friday, June 12 — Minnesota @ Oakland — 1st ever meeting
  • Saturday, June 13 — Minnesota @ Vegas — 1st ever meeting
  • Saturday, June 13 — Pittsburgh @ Toronto — 4th meeting (Rush lead 2-1)
  • Saturday, June 13 — San Diego @ Colorado — 5th meeting (Apex lead 3-1)
  • Thursday, June 18 — Salt Lake @ Madison — 1st ever meeting
  • Friday, June 19 — Salt Lake @ Minnesota — 3rd ever meeting (Shred lead 2-0)
  • Friday, June 19 — Toronto @ Oregon — 1st ever meeting
  • Saturday, June 20 — Toronto @ Seattle — 1st ever meeting
  • Friday, July 10 — New York @ Chicago — 3rd meeting (Empire lead 2-0)
  • Saturday, July 11 — Boston @ Minnesota — 2nd meeting (Glory lead 1-0)
  • Saturday, July 18 — DC @ Atlanta — 3rd meeting (Series tied 1-1)
  • Saturday, July 18 — Indianapolis @ Toronto — 1st ever meeting

How many interdivisional games are teams playing? 

Five — Pittsburgh
Four — Minnesota, Toronto
Three — Carolina, Colorado, DC, New York, Oakland, San Diego, Seattle
Two — Philadelphia, Salt Lake
One — Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Vegas, Madison, Montreal, Oregon

Bizarrely, when discussing doubleheaders, the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds are once again one of the headliners. In fact, they are the only team in the league with four different weekends featuring multiple games. Only two of these are “true road doubleheaders,” where they’ll be the road team on back-to-back days. But Pittsburgh also has a pair of weekends when they’ll have a home game and a road game on consecutive days, which is no easy task by any means. 

Consequently, the Thunderbirds—with five interdivisional games and four doubleheaders—have the quirkiest schedule I can remember in my 12 years covering the UFA. While the season is 13 weeks long, they’ll play two-thirds of their games on just four of those weekends.

Every team in the league has at least one doubleheader weekend, but Austin, DC, and San Diego are the three organizations that each have just a single two-game jaunt. The other 19 teams all have at least two multi-game weekends, though this statistic also includes the relatively rare phenomenon where a team might play two games on the same weekend but on non-consecutive days. 

Yes, this is a bit in the weeds, but take Madison’s slate, for example. The Radicals—by my arbitrary count—have two doubleheader weekends. However, they do not play on back-to-back days all season. They’ve got an unprecedented Thursday-Sunday wrinkle in Week 9, when they host Salt Lake on June 18 and travel to Chicago three days later. And on the final weekend of the regular season, the Rads will host Chicago on July 17 and play at Minnesota on July 19. 

Building in these recovery days on two-game weekends is a relatively new development, and the friendlier doubleheader schedule stands in stark contrast with a team like Colorado. The newly rebranded Apex will play all six of their road games in just three separate weekends, with a trio of daunting road back-to-backs, all of which are scheduled in the first seven weeks of the season.

Here’s a list of when teams have doubleheader weekends:

Two Games in a Weekend

  • Week 1: ATL, CAR
  • Week 2: TOR, MTL, COL, ORE*, SLC*
  • Week 3: ATL, OAK, MTL
  • Week 4: COL, LV, MIN
  • Week 5: PIT
  • Week 6: DC, ORE, SEA, TOR (H)
  • Week 7: ATX, BOS*, CAR, COL, NY
  • Week 8: BOS, HTX, MIN, PIT*, SLC
  • Week 9: CHI*, LV, MAD*, PHI, SD, SLC, TOR
  • Week 10: HTX, OAK
  • Week 11: CHI*, IND*, MIN*, PHI (H), SEA
  • Week 12: NY*, PIT
  • Week 13: CHI*, IND, MAD*, OAK, PIT*

The asterisks indicate a non-traditional doubleheader, with at least one of the games at home or a day off between games. There are also two instances, Toronto in Week 6 and Philly in Week 11, when a team hosts two games in the same weekend. 

With more quirks than ever, the 2026 schedule can feel pretty different than years past. However, there are also four very familiar rivalry matchups, at least one of which will grace the calendar almost every weekend. 

Atlanta and Carolina will once again play each other four times, as will Austin and Houston, Seattle and Oregon, and Madison and Indianapolis. Perhaps it’s not ideal to play one-third of your 12-game slate against the same opponent, but on the bright side, these rivalry matchups are often full of intensity and surprises. 

Overall, the 2026 schedule is packed with character and intrigue, and we’re just 10 weeks away from launching the opening pull.