NFL Kickoff Ratings Crash by Double Digits, Lowest Since 2022

The NFL kicked off the 2026 season by pitting last year’s Super Bowl teams against each other in a matchup the league spared no hype or promotion for.

But it didn’t produce the results they wanted.

Last week’s Wednesday NFL Kickoff between the Rams and Patriots on NBC saw an 11 percent drop in ratings from the year before, averaging 25.1 million viewers and making it the least-watched NFL season opener since 2022.

The numbers surprised both the NFL and NBC. Especially considering last year’s NFL Kickoff special, a Thursday night contest between the Cowboys and Eagles, had to contend with a 65-minute rain delay.

The game did do well among some key demographics, as Front Office Sports (FOS) reports.

Among the highly coveted group of viewers aged 18-49, though, the Patriots-Seahawks game represented the best audience since 2021 for an NFL season opener. The NFL has also achieved its first four-year run of kickoff games with more than 25 million in average viewership since 2013–16. The Patriots’ and Seahawks’ home markets led 2026 kickoff game viewership, with Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston ranking first and second, followed by Seattle-Tacoma at No. 3. Buffalo, a consistent outperformer when it comes to sports viewership, ranked fourth.

Traditionally, the season-opener has taken place on Thursday night. It remains to be seen whether the poor Wednesday performance will dissuade the league from straying from its start day again.

The league will have another data point to review the effectiveness of Wednesday night games in November, when the Rams take on the Packers on Thanksgiving Eve.