The NFL absolutely crushed the World Series in TV ratings on Monday night. This isn’t just a minor win for football, folks, the Week 7 NFC East showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles pulled in over 10 *million* more viewers than Game 3 of the Brewers-Rays World Series. It’s a stark reminder of the NFL’s undeniable power and how tough it’s gotten for Major League Baseball to compete when big games go head-to-head.
The Numbers Are Staggering, Period
Let’s talk about the raw data, because it tells a story nobody in sports media can ignore. The Cowboys-Eagles game averaged a mind-blowing 18.8 million viewers across a ton of channels, including ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, Disney+, and NFL+. That audience wasn’t just big, it tied the Buccaneers-Lions game from 2025 for the most-watched Week 7 Monday Night Football game in the entire ESPN era, which dates all the way back to 2006. Think about that for a second.
Now, compare that to Game 3 of the World Series. That matchup averaged only 8.33 million viewers across FOX and Fox Deportes. You do the math, that’s roughly a 10.5 million viewer difference. NBC Sports even highlighted how much this gap has grown, noting that there was a time the NFL actively tried to avoid competing with the World Series. Clearly, those days are long gone, and Monday’s numbers prove the NFL doesn’t just compete, it dominates.
Why the Huge Gap?
So, what happened? Part of it is on baseball. Game 3 of the World Series was a total blow-out, with the Milwaukee Brewers jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the fifth inning before ultimately winning 10-1. Nobody wants to watch a one-sided game, right? Meanwhile, the Cowboys-Eagles clash, even with the teams coming in with a combined 4-8 record, was a much more compelling matchup between two high-profile NFL franchises. It proves that even when records are modest, the rivalry and the NFL brand still draw massive audiences.
This isn’t an isolated incident, either. Monday Night Football is on an absolute tear. Over the first seven weeks of the season, the MNF package has averaged 19 million viewers, which is a massive 26% jump from the same point in the 2025 season. Sure, the World Series started stronger, with Game 1 pulling 12.26 million viewers and Game 2 getting 10.85 million. But that Game 3 drop? That’s a dramatic fall. This past Monday was also part of a “sports equinox,” meaning all four major U.S. men’s professional leagues and the WNBA were in action. Yet, football still reigns supreme.
What does this mean for MLB moving forward? How does baseball fight back when football is gobbling up audiences like this? It’s not just about one night, it’s about the entire TV landscape shifting, and it’s a trend that’s getting harder and harder for baseball to ignore.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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