It seems television executives have a new attraction after the Commanders’ NFC Championship loss. Washington now ranks alongside Kansas City, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Dallas as marquee teams to watch.
It’s the most primetime games ever for the Commanders, mainly because Washington’s 1983-91 heyday of three Super Bowl championships came before the start of Sunday and Thursday night games, plus streaming services like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. It was just Monday Night Football two or three times annually.
Now, TV execs know big ratings await Commanders games, especially with Daniels coming off an NFL Rookie of the Year Award. Instead of the traditional Washington-Dallas ratings blockbuster on Thanksgiving, the two teams will play the 1 p.m. game on Christmas via Netflix.
The downside for the Commanders on Christmas is that more than 1 million area residents leave town for the holidays, so home-field advantage is marginalized. Indeed, Dallas owner Jerry Jones has long said the Washington area has more Cowboys fans than any city outside Texas. Northwest Stadium was long overwhelmed with blue Dallas jerseys until last season. Now, Dallas may get another fan edge.
The Commanders’ first international game since 2016 in London is Nov. 16 versus Miami, as the NFL ventures into Spain for the first time in the regular season. Spain, along with London and Germany, is considered one of the top European venues should the NFL expand. The NFL wanted a marquee quarterback to dangle before an overseas audience.
Overall, Washington has a tough run this fall, especially with no 1 p.m. starts in October and November. Five late road games will see Washington reach home in the early morning hours of Monday, rendering that day useless.
Traditionally, nobody sleeps on planes after games. Washington kicker Brett Conway slept after a 1997 Christmas Eve game in San Francisco, only to later discover teammates used a Sharpie to make him look like a cat. Conway didn’t notice until arriving at his girlfriend’s family home for Christmas brunch. Let’s just say Conway retaliated with several serious pranks to punish his artistic teammates.
Washington has three sets of consecutive road games and two Thursday contests for short weeks. It also finishes with four straight NFC East games, including two of the final three versus the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles.
It seems Washington’s price of success is no lazy early afternoon games. Instead, the Commanders are prime attractions.
