Published October 14, 2026 07:13 PM
Same city. Same stadium. Same day of the week. Same kickoff time.
Different teams. Far different numbers.
The Colts-Commanders game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London averaged fewer than five million viewers in Week 4. In Week 5, Eagles-Jaguars generated 8.1 million viewers.
It was the second most-watched international game on NFL Network, with a 36-percent increase over the 2025 average of 6.2 million.
The series continues this weekend, when the Texans face the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London. In Week 7, the Steelers face the Saints in Paris.
Sunday’s game lasted three hours and 42 minutes, trickling into the 1:00 p.m. ET window — and likely taking a major chunk out of the ratings for the pregame shows on ESPN, Fox, and CBS. If/when (when) the NFL secures the ability to stage 16 international games per season, the 9:30 a.m. ET window will become commonplace. At some point, it will be fair to ask whether the morning/afternoon pregame shows should go the way of the dodo bird.
With so much more analysis and content available in advance of the Sunday games than ever before, the Sunday morning/afternoon pregame shows really don’t add much. They add even less when, you know, a game is being televised at the time the pregame shows are on.
Indeed, if/when (when) the NFL sells the Sunday morning European package to the highest bidder, whoever wins the rights may request that the NFL direct its other broadcast partners to stand down from 9:30 a.m. ET to 1:00 p.m. ET on every Sunday when a game is being played.