The University of Arizona’s football program unveiled kickoff times and broadcast assignments for multiple 2026 contests on Wednesday, giving fans advance notice of when and where to watch a portion of the Wildcats’ slate. The early-season television plan mixes afternoon kickoffs and late-night windows, spanning streaming platforms and linear networks as the Wildcats begin a season that includes three nonconference opponents and multiple Big 12 matchups.
Arizona will open the 2026 season on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Casino Del Sol Stadium against Northern Arizona. That season opener is set for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff and will be carried on ESPN+. The announced start time and streaming assignment set the tone for the Wildcats’ nonconference block, which pairs a Tucson home date with road trips and a nationally televised slate as the month progresses.
Pregame color guard at Arizona Stadium with the Wildcats scoreboard visible — a home game scene tied to the announced 2026 kickoff times and TV broadcast schedule.
Arizona’s Week 2 will take the Wildcats out of state and into conference play. The matchup at BYU in Provo, slated for Saturday, Sept. 12, is scheduled to kickoff at 12:30 p.m. on Fox. That game also marks Arizona’s Big 12 opener following BYU’s shift from a previously scheduled nonconference opponent into league play. The roster of television assignments continues to illustrate how college football distribution will be split this season between streaming platforms and traditional broadcast windows.
The Wildcats return to Tucson the next week for a nonconference contest against Northern Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 19. That game has been assigned a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and will be shown across TNT, TruTV and HBO Max. A week later Arizona closes out its nonconference slate with a Sept. 26 road game at Washington State, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. and air on CBS. Those placements give Arizona exposure on multiple national platforms across the first month of the season.
Arizona’s television schedule also includes a conference prime-time game in Tucson against TCU on Friday, Nov. 6. That matchup is set for an 8:15 p.m. kickoff and will be televised on ESPN. Officials noted that kickoff times for the program’s other Big 12 games will either be announced the week before each contest or could be shifted into a six-day scheduling window, a mechanism often used by leagues and broadcasters to accommodate television selections and logistical considerations.
The BYU game carries added context beyond the television assignment. BYU had originally been booked as a nonconference opponent for Arizona for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, but the matchup was reclassified as a Big 12 contest; the adjustment opened a final nonconference slot that was filled by the newly scheduled home-and-home series with Washington State. Historically, Arizona and BYU have a long-standing series, with the Wildcats holding a 12-14-1 record against the Cougars dating back to 1936. Since the meeting in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl — the Wildcats’ last victory over BYU — Arizona has dropped five straight games to BYU, including a double-overtime loss at home in 2025 and a 41-19 defeat in Provo in 2024.
Arizona quarterback under pressure during game action — representative Wildcats imagery for the article detailing 2026 kickoff times and television assignments.
The series with Washington State also carries a historical footnote. Arizona and the Cougars will begin a home-and-home sequence with the 2026 meeting in Pullman; that contest is slated for Gesa Field and will be followed by a return to Tucson in 2027. Washington State was one of two programs that remained in the Pac-12 following the 2024 realignment; the conference experienced significant membership changes that year as Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah moved to the Big 12, USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon joined the Big Ten, and Cal and Stanford headed to the ACC. Across all meetings with Washington State since 1963, Arizona holds a 28-19 advantage. The Wildcats’ most recent matchup at Pullman resulted in a 44-6 victory for Arizona, a game that preceded a seven-game winning streak to close the 2023 season.
The early announcement of kickoff times and television windows gives fans a roadmap for several notable dates on the 2026 calendar, while also leaving room for flexibility on remaining conference contests. With national platforms such as ESPN, Fox and CBS carrying Arizona games alongside streaming and cable outlets including ESPN+ and the Turner/HBO Max family, the Wildcats’ schedule will be consumed across a mix of digital and broadcast media. Athletic department officials and media partners will finalize additional kickoff times for the rest of the Big 12 schedule in the weeks leading up to those games or within the league’s designated six-day window.