The NFL scheduled six 9:30 a.m. ET kickoffs between Weeks 4 and 10 this season, part of a record nine-game international slate across seven countries. NFL Network carries five of those six morning games. On Fox and CBS, the noon ET pregame shows serve as lead-ins for the 1 p.m. regional games. Those lead-ins took a hit in Week 5, when the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game in London did not end until 1:15 p.m. ET.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
According to Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing, the Fox NFL Sunday fell 14 percent with 3.797 million viewers, and CBS’s The NFL Today dropped 11.5 percent from the previous week with 2.818 million viewers. The cause was Eagles-Jaguars, a 9:30 a.m. ET game on NFL Network that stretched into the 1 p.m. window.
“Fox and CBS have long been frustrated by the NFL’s ever-encroaching international regular-season slate, with 9:30 a.m. ET kickoffs from Europe having the potential to deflate viewership for their pregame shows…The falloff in the last two weeks is noticeable,” Keeley noted. “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).”
The London game lasted for almost three hours and 42 minutes. And the delay started on the opening kickoff. Mere 13 seconds into the game, and Philly linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was already out of it. Officials ejected him and Jaguars defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr. after a fight on the opening kickoff. That play had also produced a 90-yard Josh Cameron return, and offsetting penalties wiped it out. The game never recovered its pace.
In the fourth quarter, Cam Little missed an extra point after Parker Washington’s 27-yard touchdown catch. Jake Elliott then put the Eagles ahead 17-16 with a 48-yard field goal. Ameer Abdullah answered with a 53-yard kickoff return, and Little hit from 57 yards as time expired for a 19-17 Jaguars win.
The chaotic finish on the field only compounded an ongoing issue for the networks, as Fox’s earlier pregame show had already faced similar dips. Fox NFL Sunday drew 4.967 million in Week 1 and 4.436 million in Week 4. The NFL Today reached 3.873 million in Week 3. Fox NFL Kickoff averaged 1.123 million in Week 5, its lowest mark of the season. Over Weeks 1 through 3, before the London run began, it averaged more than 1.4 million.
The London game, meanwhile, delivered NFL Network a near-record audience. Eagles-Jaguars drew 8.1 million viewers on NFL Network, becoming the channel’s second most-watched international game. Among the network’s 25 International Series games since 2016, only Dolphins-Chiefs in 2023 drew more, with 9.2 million.
The 8.1 million beat last season’s game average on the network by 36 percent. It also topped the 6.6 million that FOX NFL Sunday and The NFL Today drew combined.
This only adds to the frustration both networks have had with the NFL’s International games.
The pregame shows of Fox and CBS feed their regional afternoon slates. Rarely has a 9:30 a.m. kickoff spilled into the 1 p.m. window, and this one did. The standalone national windows already thin that slate. However, on the public front, Fox has stayed measured.
“There is no tension, really, with the NFL,” Fox’s executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in May. “We’d like to sort of broaden and deepen our relationship with the NFL, but we’ll only do so in a disciplined way…creates value for a long-term shareholder value for our shareholders.”
The ratings now show where the friction sits.
Interestingly, this wasn’t the only game to cause the viewership drop. Week 4 already warned of this. The Colts vs. Commanders also started at 9:30 a.m. ET, but it ended around 12:45 p.m., which left time to transition to noon shows.
Soon it won’t be a one-off situation. Turns out six 9:30 a.m. kickoff games are expected between Weeks 4 and 10. Two are finished, so four such viewership dip instances remain. Texans-Jaguars at Wembley comes Sunday, followed by Steelers-Saints in Paris in Week 7. Then, after a Week 8 break, Bengals-Falcons travel to Madrid in Week 9, followed by Patriots-Lions from Munich in Week 10.
The networks do get something in return. Fox acquired the Munich game and a Saturday game in Week 15. And CBS had Ravens-Cowboys in Rio, which averaged 24.9 million viewers, becoming the most-watched international game in league history. So Fox and CBS trade lead-ins for marquee inventory.
The league wants more international games, not fewer. NFL owners approved a resolution in May allowing up to 10 international games beyond the 2026 season. Commissioner Roger Goodell has set 16 a year as the goal. And he hopes to get there within the next five years.