U2 Halftime Show at the NFL Thanksgiving Eve Game 2026: Packers at Rams

U2 will headline the halftime show at the NFL's first ever Thanksgiving Eve game, the Green Bay Packers at the Los Angeles Rams, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Wednesday 25 November 2026. Kick-off is 8pm Eastern Time, which is 5pm in Los Angeles and 1am on Thursday 26 November in the UK. The band confirmed it on 20 October 2026, and the game streams live on Netflix.

It is an unusual date in the band's calendar. U2 have a new album, Carnaval De Luz, out on 13 November and a world tour that opens in Mexico City on 23 February 2027, so a single halftime set in Los Angeles falls in the gap between the two. For UK fans it is a short set, on another continent, and at an awkward hour to watch from home.

Netflix has framed it as a major occasion. Its co-CEO Ted Sarandos said U2 "don't just perform, they deliver iconic moments audiences remember forever", and promised "an unforgettable night for football fans and Netflix members worldwide".

What has been confirmed

• The game: Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Rams, Week 12 of the 2026 NFL regular season, the first game the league has ever scheduled on Thanksgiving Eve, billed as NFL Thanksgiving Eve presented by American Express.
• The venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, the Rams' home ground.
• The date and time: Wednesday 25 November 2026, kick-off 8pm Eastern Time (5pm Pacific, 1am Thursday in the UK).
• The music: U2 headline the halftime show, produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment.
• The broadcast: live on Netflix, available in more than 200 countries and in five languages, with NBC Sports producing the game coverage.

What hasn't been announced matters just as much. There is no set list, no word on special guests and no published length for the halftime show. Netflix's previous halftime sets suggest something bigger than a three-song cameo: Beyoncé performed at its first Christmas Day game in 2024, and Snoop Dogg took the halftime slot at the Lions against the Vikings on Christmas Day 2025, a broadcast the NFL calls the most-streamed regular-season game in US history. Until U2 or Netflix say more, any running order you read online is a guess.

U2's first NFL halftime show since 2002

The last time U2 played halftime at an NFL game, it was Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on 3 February 2002. They played 'Beautiful Day', 'MLK' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name' while the names of the victims of the 11 September attacks were projected inside the stadium. The NFL still describes that set as one of the most memorable moments in Super Bowl history.

There is a link between the two nights. The team on the losing side that night was the St. Louis Rams, beaten 20 to 17 by the New England Patriots on a last-second field goal. The Rams have since moved to Los Angeles, and U2's return to an NFL halftime is at their home ground. The band are also marking 50 years since forming in Dublin in 1976, so the halftime set falls in an anniversary year.

Packers at Rams: the game itself

On last season's form, it is a strong fixture. The Rams went 12 and 5 in 2025 and reached the NFC Championship Game, with Matthew Stafford named AP MVP after throwing a career-high and league-leading 46 touchdown passes and leading the NFL with 4,707 passing yards. The Packers made the play-offs for a third straight season but went out in the first round again. When the schedule came out in May, their pass rusher Micah Parsons was coming back from a season-ending ACL tear, tight end Tucker Kraft was also on the mend, and the NFL reckoned the pair had ample time to be back by Week 12.

There's a coaching subplot too. Sean McVay of the Rams and Matt LaFleur of the Packers are old friends, and their teams meet in the middle of the busiest week in the American football calendar: the Thanksgiving Day tripleheader follows the next day, then a Black Friday game.

SoFi Stadium and its suites

SoFi Stadium opened on 8 September 2020 and is home to both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers. It seats 70,240 for most events and can be expanded beyond 100,000 for the biggest ones. The roof is a translucent canopy of ETFE panels, so the bowl is open at the sides but covered, and hanging over the field is the Infinity Screen, a double-sided oval video board weighing roughly 1,000 tons.

The stadium has had a few nights like this already. The Rams won Super Bowl LVI there on 13 February 2022, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 20 in front of 70,048 people, and it hosted eight matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is also part of the plans for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

For hospitality, SoFi Stadium's private suites for Rams games run from field level up to the 50-yard line. They include the Field Cabana, the Patio Suite, the Perch Suite, the Stage Suite, the Terrace Suite, the Hangar Suite and the Google Cloud Suite. The Rams have described their field-level suites as sitting directly behind the team bench, which puts a group close to both the game and the halftime stage. For a client group, a private suite gives guests their own space for the evening, so nobody has to leave their seat area to see U2 walk on.

Watching from the UK

Netflix streams the game in more than 200 countries, the UK among them. The catch is the clock. Kick-off at 8pm Eastern Time is 1am on Thursday 26 November in the UK, which by my estimate puts U2's halftime set somewhere around 2am, depending on how the first half runs. If you're hosting clients for it at home, you're hosting a very late night, or a very early breakfast.

Taking a group to Inglewood

For a group flying out, the timing works better than it first looks. Thanksgiving week is the busiest travel week of the American year, so flights and hotels around Los Angeles need arranging well ahead, but a Wednesday game means guests can fly out early in the week and be home by the weekend, with a few days in Los Angeles around the game.

If you are considering a group trip, register your interest with your group size and travel dates and our team will talk it through. If your group would rather watch the NFL closer to home, our NFL London games and NFL international series pages cover the games played in Britain and Europe, and our guide to the NFL international games in Europe covers travel and planning. And for what comes next for the band, read our piece on the U2 UK tour in 2027, which covers where things stand on British dates.

Photo credits: Rams fans at SoFi Stadium by PontiacAurora, CC0. SoFi Stadium exterior and interior by Troutfarm27, CC BY-SA 4.0. U2 at Sphere by lightpants, CC BY 4.0. Portrait photo: The Edge of U2 on stage by Happy24, CC BY 4.0.