As soon as the Washington Commanders were scheduled to play a London game in 2026, the backlash came rushing in.

“We’re giving up a home game.”

That sounds like the biggest deal. What it does not capture is everything that makes it one of the better spots in the schedule. If anything, fans gain one of the better Sundays. However, when the Commanders play in London, the fanbase should absolutely love it.

You get most of your Sunday back

First, there is a simple change to when your game starts. Football before noon on the East Coast fundamentally alters the entire feel of your day.

No watching the clock for 1pm. No dragging through your morning just hoping to fill time until the 1pm game. You wake up, and it is already happening. You have barely finished your coffee, and the ball is airborne.

It just has more of a college Saturday than an NFL Sunday feel to it. And by itself, that separates it from the rest of your week. Few games are set up to give you this immediate start to your football viewing.

Keg & Eggs is a blast

And with that, you add people.

Now this shifts from just watching football, to making football the central reason for your day. The group chat is lighting up the night before. Someone is offering up their place. Someone is promising to “keep it easy” before showing up with a feast.

Sure, kegs and eggs are part of it. But it is more than that. It is a full experience. Showing up early. Eating breakfast on the stovetop. Arguments about fantasy football before the first series is even done. By the time 1pm rolled around, you had already lived a full football life.

Is there really a competitive disadvantage?

Washington Commanders fans watch their team practice before the game, Sunday, December 14, 2025, in East Rutherford.

Then there is the piece you cannot always say aloud. Giving up a “home” game is hardly any huge competitive disadvantage.

Commanders’ home games for years have been very dubious. Away teams travel exceptionally well to DC or are willing to come and turn your big game into a coin flip that ends up being 50-50. The advantage that is supposed to come with being on your home field has simply not consistently materialized.

So, what is it that you are really “giving up”?

Instead of a 50/50 crowd in your home stadium, you have a neutral setting with a lot of eyes. Different people, different environment, and the result is far less of a sure thing. This hardly feels like a monumental sacrifice.

It is essentially leveling the playing field. And a bigger part is the reason beyond all of this.

This is about growth.

Growing the fanbase

London is no longer some novel addition. The league has been slowly staking its claim there for years, and the games are not just about the schedule. The games are about exposure. New fans, new markets, new eyeballs on teams who are looking to turn the corner.

That is precisely what the Commanders brand and organization are doing.

They are in a phase of rebuilding their brand, and new leadership. A whole new direction and feel for the organization. The team playing in front of a completely new international audience puts that current version of the Washington Commanders on display much differently than they ever could at Northwest Field on a Sunday afternoon.

Play well, and you have not only just won, but you’ve given people a reason to latch onto your team.

Also, there is just a distinct feel of the production that accompanies international games. The atmosphere, the broadcasting attention, even a normal regular-season game has a bit more heft and gravitas to it.

You can tell, and so can the players.

Embrace the change of scenery

Realistically, they’re gaining an early kickoff to reset their day’s pacing, a reason to gather with their friends as opposed to just watching alone, a transition from an unreliable home-field edge to a pure neutral staging, and an opportunity to be presented to a new audience that’s never paid them attention.

Many years from now, nobody is going to remember that the game was played in London instead of Landover.

They will remember the morning and the commotion in the house before noon. The feeling that their day started too early and that it was never going to stop.

That does not happen every Sunday. Embrace it.