Broncos to open season with Super Bowl rematch

The 2016 NFL season will begin like the 2015 campaign ended.

In the hours before the NFL’s official 2015 schedule release Thursday, word leaked through various reports that the Denver Broncos will host the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 8 in a rematch of the Orange & Blue’s 24-10 win in Super Bowl 50.

Big news: Panthers and Broncos will open the 2016 NFL season in Denver, @josephperson reports https://t.co/bbu0JmNdI0

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) April 14, 2016

Kickoff will be scheduled for approximately 6:30 p.m. at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, and beforehand, Cam Newton and the Panthers will have to relive their upset loss as the Broncos unveil their new Super Bowl banner. NBC, of course, will be there to chronicle the action.

It will be the sixth straight season the Broncos have opened at home, and Denver has won four straight since a 23-20 Monday Night Football loss to the Oakland Raiders in 2011 in former coach John Fox’s debut with the franchise.

The remainder of the Broncos’ schedule, which also reportedly includes a Christmas night game in Kansas City, will be released shortly.