The initial week of NFL preseason broadcasts on NFL Network revealed a slight decline in overall viewership, yet one specific contest managed to capture a significant audience. The encounter between the Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs marked a notable achievement, drawing the largest viewership for a Week 1 preseason game on the network in nearly a decade, despite the broader trend of reduced ratings.
NFL Preseason Week 1: Chiefs-Rams Game Sets Viewership Record
On a Saturday afternoon in August 2026, the highly anticipated preseason game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams at Arrowhead Stadium, featuring running back Emmett Johnson (10) for the Chiefs, captivated 2.38 million viewers. This remarkable figure positioned it as NFL Network's most-watched Week 1 preseason broadcast since 2015, outperforming the previous year's Dolphins-Bears game and showing a 9% increase over the Saints-Chargers matchup from the same period in the prior year.
While the Rams-Chiefs game soared, the overall picture for NFL Network's Week 1 preseason coverage was more nuanced. The six games aired last week averaged 1.93 million viewers, a decrease from the 2.1 million recorded in Week 1 of 2025. It's crucial to note that direct year-over-year comparisons are complex due to Nielsen's adoption of a new 'Big Data' methodology post-September 2025, which has generally inflated live sports viewership, sometimes by as much as 15%. Additionally, NFL Network's 2025 schedule included two Sunday games, a feature absent in 2026, and a late Thursday kickoff, factors that could influence overall average viewership. Excluding the Sunday games from the previous year, 2026's Week 1 viewership actually saw a 3% increase from 1.88 million.
Other notable games included the Packers-Steelers matchup, which garnered 2.28 million viewers, marking a 21% rise from the Colts-Ravens game last year. This also surpassed the MLB Field of Dreams game between the Phillies and Twins on Netflix. The Cowboys-Seahawks primetime game on Saturday attracted 2.23 million viewers, a significant 29% jump from last year's Jets-Packers game. Despite this, it was outranked by 'Baseball Night in America' on Fox, although it did outperform the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx-Las Vegas Aces game on CBS. These figures align with the earlier Pro Football Hall of Fame game's viewership on NBC, which drew 7.0 million viewers for the Arizona Cardinals-Carolina Panthers game, a 1% increase from the previous year's Steelers-Cowboys.
The upcoming week is expected to offer a clearer insight into viewership trends, with two nationally televised games outside of NFL Network: the Las Vegas Raiders-Houston Texans on ESPN on Thursday, and the Seattle Seahawks-Tennessee Titans on Fox during Sunday primetime.
This season's NFL preseason viewership data presents an intriguing paradox: while the overall average dipped slightly, specific marquee matchups demonstrated immense drawing power, even setting new decade-long records. This suggests that while casual viewing might be experiencing a slight decline, major games featuring popular teams or compelling narratives continue to command a strong audience. The shift in Nielsen's measurement methodology also highlights the evolving landscape of media consumption and data analysis, making it essential to consider these technical adjustments when interpreting viewership trends. Moving forward, the industry will be watching closely to see if the upcoming nationally broadcast games can further solidify or alter these early season patterns.
