The National Football League will release its full 272-game schedule for the 2024 NFL season on Wednesday night, but the league announced the first of those 272 games on Monday morning. The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Baltimore Ravens in the annual NFL Kickoff Game on Sept. 5 at Arrowhead Stadium. The game will kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET and air on NBC as the official start of the 105th NFL season.
The game is a rematch of last year’s AFC Title Game, which took place in Baltimore, and was won by Kansas City 17–10 en route to it then going on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 25–22, in Super Bowl LVIII. This will be the 14th all-time meeting between the Chiefs and Ravens franchises, with Kansas City holding an 8–5 edge. Counting the postseason, Kansas City has won five of the last six matchups with Baltimore.
While the Chiefs had an inconsistent regular season last year with an 11–6 record—their worst since Patrick Mahomes became starting quarterback in 2018—they turned things up come postseason play, defeating the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills before those victories over Baltimore and San Francisco. All four of the team’s playoff opponents ranked in the top six in scoring offense, but Kansas City’s defense, which ranked second in scoring in the regular season with just 17.3 points per game allowed, was even better in the postseason, giving up just 15.8 points.
Meanwhile, Baltimore’s regular season was its highlight as it went 13–4 to finish with the best record in the league, with Lamar Jackson winning his second MVP. Defense has become synonymous with the Ravens throughout their franchise’s history, and that was certainly the case in 2023. Baltimore led the NFL in points allowed, sacks, and takeaways—becoming the first team in league history to lead in all three categories. The team proceeded to open its postseason with a Divisional win over the Houston Texans before that defeat to the Chiefs, where Baltimore had its fewest points (10) and rushing yards (81) all season, while committing its most turnovers (3).
The 2024 NFL Kickoff Game will feature the two reigning MVPs, Mahomes and Jackson. The latter won his second regular season MVP award last season, making him the second-youngest player to win multiple MVPs, behind Jim Brown. However, Mahomes, who already had two regular season MVPs, won his third Super Bowl MVP a year ago, which ties Joe Montana for the second-most of all-time, only behind Tom Brady’s five.
This matchup will also feature some new faces that weren’t in their playoff contest in January. Baltimore added two-time rushing champ, Derrick Henry, in the offseason as a free agent, and he leads all active NFL players in both rushing yards (9,502) and rushing touchdowns (90). As for the Chiefs, they bolstered a wide receiver core which was seen as the team’s weak link last year. Kansas City signed former 1,000-yard wideout, Marquise Brown, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals, and the Chiefs also spent a first-round draft pick on receiver Xavier Worthy, who finished second in the Big 12 with 1,014 receiving yards last year at the University of Texas.
The NFL Kickoff Game is a relatively recent tradition that just began in 2002, and the reigning Super Bowl champion hosting the game started in 2004. The Chiefs’ franchise is 2–1 in kickoff games, defeating the New England Patriots in 2017 and Texans in 2020, before losing to the Detroit Lions last season. The Ravens lost their lone kickoff game appearance in 2013 versus the Denver Broncos, although that game came on the road due to a scheduling conflict with the Baltimore Orioles, who play at an adjacent stadium. Overall, the home team owns a 17–6 record in kickoff games, while the defending Super Bowl champion sports a 13–5 record.
The game, itself, is just one part of the festivities the league holds to commemorate the start of its season. There is also a pre-game concert, with special performances also for the National Anthem, and occasionally, the halftime show. One of the past performers was Taylor Swift in 2010 in New Orleans, with the connection being that the pop singer is currently dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The NFL will announce any musical performers for this year’s game at a later date.
The NFL will release its full schedule for the 2024 season on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Every team already knows who they will be playing, and where the games will take place, but they’ll get times and dates associated with those matchups during the release show.
The rest of the offseason schedule includes mandatory minicamps beginning in early-to-mid June, training camps opening for most teams on July 24, and the preseason beginning with the Hall of Fame Game on August 1.
