NFL to unveil 2016 game schedule on Thursday night

— -- The NFL will officially unveil its full 2016 regular-season schedule Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

The planned announcement of the NFL schedule, which has become treated almost like a national holiday, was confirmed by the league in a news release Wednesday.

A two-hour SportsCenter special on Thursday evening will be broadcast on ESPN from 8 to 9 p.m., and ESPN2 from 9 to 10 p.m. 

League spokesman Brian McCarthy took to Twitter earlier Wednesday to announce that the schedule was complete and would be revealed Thursday.

Each team's home and away opponents in the regular season were already announced by the NFL after the end of the 2015 regular season.

The dates of the NFL's three games to be played in London this season also were previously set: Indianapolis vs. Jacksonville on Oct. 2., an undisclosed NFC East team vs. the Rams on Oct. 23, and Washington vs. Cincinnati on Oct. 30.