Television executives are privately fuming following a chaotic NFL London game that completely disrupted the Sunday morning broadcasting schedule.
The Jacksonville Jaguars‘ 19-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles ran well past its expected window. This delay forced Fox and CBS to push back their flagship pregame shows, causing a sudden and noticeable drop in ratings.
Although network officials refuse to comment publicly, industry insiders note that tension between top brass and the league over these early European kickoffs has officially reached a boiling point.
NFL Ratings fall after Eagles-Jaguars London game runs long
Fox NFL Sunday drew 3.797 million viewers, losing 14% of its audience compared to the previous week. CBS’s The NFL Today dropped to 2.818 million viewers, falling 11.5% from its prior mark of 3.183 million.
Media analyst Sean Keeley noted on Awful Announcing that Fox and CBS have long been frustrated by the league’s international regular-season slate. “The falloff in the last two weeks is noticeable,” Keeley wrote, highlighting that early morning kickoffs from Europe have the potential to deflate viewership for traditional pregame programming.
Several factors at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stretched the broadcast to nearly four hours, directly bleeding into the pregame window. Disruption began immediately when officials ejected two players on the opening kickoff following a lengthy review. Frequent penalties and video reviews further slowed down the pace of play.
Late drama added to the delay as the final three minutes and 30 seconds featured three lead changes before Jaguars kicker Cam Little won the game with a 57-yard field goal. By the time the broadcast concluded, the early-afternoon regional games on Fox and CBS were already playing.
Meanwhile, the delay benefited NFL Network. Its exclusive broadcast of the game drew 8.1 million viewers, making it the network’s second-most-watched international game ever. That single broadcast easily outperformed the combined audiences of the Fox and CBS pregame shows, which totaled 6.6 million.
Week 5 in London delivered big on @nflnetwork!
Jaguars-Eagles marked the network’s 2nd most-watched #NFL International Series game EVER, featuring a game-winning field goal as time expired @SpursStadium
Details: https://t.co/emcX5yoOp0 https://t.co/NPecjgrgPK
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 14, 2026
The scheduling conflict continued into Week 6. The Houston Texans vs. Jaguars London matchup ran until 12:48 p.m. ET, leaving local affiliates with only 12 minutes for their noon pregame window. A report by ProFootballTalk warned that morning football windows threaten the survival of traditional pregame formats.
Keeley added, “What can CBS and Fox do about it? Not much, for now. They’ll have to s–k it up and hope for a quick turnaround in Week 6 (Texans-Jaguars in London) and Week 7 (Steelers-Saints in Paris).”
International games do occasionally pay off for major broadcasters when they hold the game rights rather than the pregame slots. CBS previously set a record when its broadcast of the Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys game in Brazil averaged 24.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched international game in history.
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