NFL schedule set with Raiders, 49ers to meet on a Thursday

San Francisco will play five games in prime time despite its 6-10 record a year ago, a sign of how the team’s fortunes have improved with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, left. Oakland and quarterback Derek Carr, right, will play in prime time four times.

The Raiders will make their first visit to Levi’s Stadium to play the 49ers this upcoming season — and do so in prime time.

The Nov. 1 matchup will be on “Thursday Night Football,” the NFL announced Thursday. It’s one of four prime-time games scheduled for the Raiders and new head coach Jon Gruden in 2018, all of which are in the Bay Area.

Gruden’s regular-season return to the sideline also will be nationally televised. The Raiders open the season at home Sept. 10 on “Monday Night Football” against the Rams. ESPN, the network that employed Gruden as an analyst through last season, will carry the 7:20 p.m. kickoff.

The Raiders also will be in prime time Dec. 9 in Oakland against the Steelers and again at home on Christmas Eve, a Monday night, against the Broncos.

The Raiders are giving up a game at the Coliseum to play a “home” game against Seattle in London on Oct. 14. The game at the new Tottenham Stadium is set to kick off at 10 a.m. PDT. In a nod to the travel involved, the Raiders will play at Los Angeles against the Chargers the week before the London game and have their bye immediately after.

After a home game against the Colts in Week 8, the Raiders will visit Santa Clara on a short week in a game that holds intrigue on both sides, given Gruden’s return as head coach and the 49ers coming off their strong finish last season behind new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

It will be the teams’ first regular-season meeting since Dec. 7, 2014 in Oakland, a game the Raiders won 24-13. The 49ers last hosted the Raiders in the regular season in 2010, winning 17-9 at Candlestick Park. The teams last played in the preseason in 2011.

The Raiders will play backto-back road games twice — in Weeks 2 and 3 (Denver, Miami) and Weeks 11 and 12 (Arizona, Baltimore). They have three road games in the month of November but only one, against the Ravens, that will require a cross-country flight. They will play three games in the Eastern Time Zone.

The Raiders face the Chiefs, last year’s AFC West champions, twice in the final five weeks. They close the season with a three-game stretch at Cincinnati, home against Denver on Christmas Eve and at Kansas City in a Dec. 30 finale.

The NFL tweaked its starting times for prime-time games this season. Monday night games will move up 15 minutes to a 5:15 p.m. PDT start. Games on Sunday and Thursday nights will start at 5:20 p.m.