INDIANAPOLIS | The Indianapolis Colts will return to an international NFL stage this fall, with the league announcing Wednesday that the Colts will face the Washington Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 4.
The matchup is scheduled for Week 4 of the 2026 regular season. Colts.com reported that the game will be played as an away game for Indianapolis and that the full Colts regular-season schedule will be released Thursday evening. The Commanders said they will serve as the home team, with kickoff set for 9:30 a.m. Eastern and the game televised on NFL Network.
For Indianapolis fans, the London game adds a high-profile national and international marker before the full schedule is released. It also continues a recent pattern of Colts participation in the NFL’s global schedule. The team played the New England Patriots in Frankfurt in 2023 and the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin in 2025, according to the Colts. The London game will mark the Colts’ second regular-season game in London, following a 2016 game against Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium.
The NFL’s international series has grown from a novelty into a regular strategic tool for the league. The 2026 slate includes multiple overseas windows and gives teams broader exposure in markets where the league is trying to build television, sponsorship and fan engagement. For a team like Indianapolis, the global game creates both brand opportunity and practical disruption.
The practical disruption starts with routine. A London week changes travel, sleep, practice schedules, media obligations and recovery timing. It also can affect the following week depending on whether the league gives the team a bye or asks it to return directly to domestic play. Those details will become clearer when the full schedule is released.
From a fan standpoint, the announcement creates two tracks. Some local fans will treat the London game as a travel event. Others will experience it as a morning watch party in Indianapolis, with bars, restaurants and team partners likely to adapt around the early kickoff. The game being an away contest means Lucas Oil Stadium does not lose one of the Colts’ home dates.
The opponent also gives the matchup a national storyline. Washington is another franchise with recent international experience, and the Commanders’ official announcement framed the game as part of their overseas schedule. The NFL announcement locks in the date and venue before each team’s full slate is known.
The Colts still have larger questions to answer when the full schedule arrives: division timing, prime-time exposure, rest disadvantages, road clusters and the way the London trip fits into the early-season rhythm. But one major piece is already set. Indianapolis will be part of the NFL’s global calendar again, and the road to the 2026 season now runs through London.
Additional Reporting By: Indianapolis Colts; Washington Commanders; NFL