October 4, 2026, will mark the first NFL regular-season game in London, as the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders battle it out for their second win. The international matchups this year are a massive project for the NFL, as Commissioner Roger Goodell continues to push for more such outings. However, the league now seems to be backed up against the wall.
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Initially, the ticket price for the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was set at $325 (245 pounds). The venue has never seen fewer than 60,000 tickets sold, per official attendance records. However, according to the Associated Press’ Ken Maguire, more than 2,000 seats were still available 10 days before the Colts-Commanders game.
To get more sales, the NFL has decided to slash the ticket prices down to just $105 (£79), along with discounts on some high-end seats.
Maguire further had a conversation with the 2025 NFL international fan of the year, Andy Burrows, who is an avid Commanders fan from London. He even bought the ticket to the game for the full price during the summer pre-sale.
But disappointment struck when an empty seat near his spot sold at the discounted price, while he had to pay the full amount for a lower-bowl seat in the vicinity of the 15-yard line in the summer pre-sale.
“They don’t care about the fans. As long as that place sells out and it looks good on TV, the NFL won’t care about us,” Burrows told Maguire. “And I’m not alone. I speak to fans every day.”
Why this has happened in London of all places is a mystery. The city across the pond has been the NFL’s most frequented international venue since the 90s. London has also hosted multiple games in a single season before, and both the Washington and Indianapolis have played here too.
Here’s an even bigger mystery: Tickets for the Eagles vs. Jaguars game, also set for Tottenham, have nearly sold out, according to an X profile that helps with ticketing for UK NFL games.
The turnout for the international games held so far has been pretty impressive too. The Age reported that tickets for the Melbourne game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams were sold out within half an hour. Per AP, 100,021 fans were present.
Meanwhile, the Week 3 game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro had an attendance of 72,792 fans. And the tickets went up to around $95 (49,500 Brazilian reais), with the most expensive seats costing $530 (272,000 Brazilian reais). Lamar Jackson was very happy with the crowd, who were cheering loudly when Baltimore won, and kicker Tyler Loop went to the endzone to pull out his celebratory Ronaldo move.
Roger Goodell is planning for more international games in the future, and we know there will be 10 such matchups on the calendar next year. Goodell also has plans to host a Super Bowl overseas, and is interested in an international team, too. There’s going to be a lot of money invested in this project. But with more than 2,000 tickets still unsold for the Colts-Commanders game, the league should perhaps go back to the drawing board for a bit.
Local NFL fans weigh in on the reason behind the falling sales
Matt Cullen, a fan from London who has been an avid fan in the stands since 2007, blamed the price hike for the tickets. Furthermore, he weighed in on the fatigue around watching the same teams every year.
“It will just be really, really interesting what the future of the London games looks like because they’re not selling to the potential anymore that they used to,” Cullen told AP News. “It’s a little bit around team fatigue … a lot of it’s around cost.”
Journalist Thomas Willoughby, a ticket holder from the 2025 season, pointed out that he noticed a hike of 48% from 2024 to 2025. And the prices for the other games are still high despite the price cut for the Colts vs. Commanders game.
For the Eagles vs. Jaguars game, the most expensive tickets went for $378 (£280).
The NFL’s desperate, last-minute ticket discounts may successfully fill Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Colts and Commanders this weekend. But the league must realize that overseas fans won’t pay premium prices for underwhelming matches anymore.