The NFL took another viewership hit over the wild-card playoff weekend, showing more ratings erosion compared to last year—even as the league continues to outstrip everything else in U.S. television.

The six games played over the three-day weekend collectively showed attrition from a year ago, following the 2% audience decline during the regular season. Among the individual viewership results from the initial playoff round:

• Chargers-Texans (Jan. 11): As the Texans played yet again in the early Saturday wild-card slot, the game averaged 31.1 million on CBS and Nickelodeon, up 7% from a comparable Cleveland-Houston game last year. 
• Steelers-Ravens (Jan. 11): Amazon’s first livestream of an NFL playoff game made company history, averaging 22.1 million. The figure is by far the best individual NFL result in the company’s three years of streaming the league but is down 3% from the 23 million average for Peacock’s exclusive stream of a comparable Dolphins-Chiefs game. The Amazon figure, likely impaired by Baltimore’s racing to a 21–0 halftime lead, also failed to match the average of more than 24 million for Netflix’s streaming doubleheader on Christmas Day. 
• Broncos-Bills (Jan. 12): This CBS game also averaged 31.1 million, essentially flat from a comparable Steelers-Bills game last year that was shifted to a Monday afternoon due to heavy snow in the Buffalo area. 
• Packers-Eagles (Jan. 12): This game averaged 35.6 million viewers on Fox, the largest figure of any of the six games last weekend. The total, however, trailed a comparable late Sunday afternoon game last year between the Packers and Cowboys by 11%, again showing the impact of a down Dallas season on overall NFL viewership. 
• Commanders-Buccaneers (Jan. 12): The primetime matchup on NBC averaged a total audience delivery of 29 million, down 19% from a comparable Rams-Lions game last year, and the worst-performing Sunday night wild-card game in four years. 
• Vikings-Rams (Jan. 13): This game, relocated from Los Angeles due to the ongoing and devastating wildfires there, averaged 25.4 million, down 13% from the comparable Eagles-Buccaneers game in 2024. The Monday night contest also saw viewer attrition in the second half as the Rams built a three-touchdown lead in the first half en route to a 27–9 victory, with the audience peaking before halftime at more than 30 million viewers.

High-Profile Matchups

The divisional playoff round, meanwhile, offers more hope for a rebound. Saturday’s games will involve the two-time defending champion Chiefs, now the league’s top television draw, facing the Texans; and the Lions, now also a viewership power, are playing at home against the upstart Commanders. 

Sunday’s games will include the Rams facing the Eagles in a South Philadelphia sports complex now being reimagined, and the showcase late-afternoon contest will include the Ravens facing the Bills in a matchup featuring the two top candidates for this year’s Most Valuable Player award: Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson.

The gates are officially open in MLB’s latest international signing period, bringing the high-profile Roki Sasaki sweepstakes a big step closer to its much-anticipated conclusion.

The destination of the 23-year-old Japanese pitcher has long been among the sport’s top offseason storylines, due to his prodigious talent and relative bargain cost due to his not waiting until he turned 25 to leave Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. 

Wednesday marked the formal beginning of the 2025 period in which MLB clubs can sign international amateur free agents, the player classification that includes Sasaki, and have received a reset bonus pool to fund those signings. 

The push for Sasaki, however, is now reportedly down to three teams: the defending World Series champion Dodgers, a Padres team that’s in ownership turmoil, and the Blue Jays, in the midst of their own corporate-level shift. Other teams such as the Mets, Rangers, and Yankees are said to have been notified they are now out of the race for the pitcher, one of the game’s top young talents, featuring a blazing fastball that has topped 102 miles per hour and a wipeout slider. 

Sasaki’s posting window closes Jan. 23. The heavy focus on Sasaki, however, by MLB clubs has turned their attention away from other international amateurs in the run-up to the new signing period—creating broader chaos in this part of the player market, and the potential loss of deals for some others. 

Sasaki’s age and four years of professional experience in Japan also make him stand out from most others in this class of international free-agent prospects, made up primarily of teenagers from Latin America. Other top talents include Dominican infielder Elian Peña, who signed Wednesday with the Mets for a $5 million bonus, and countryman Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, who signed with the Giants for $3 million.

The Colts will be the first NFL team to host a regular-season game in Berlin.

Expanding on the league’s presence in Germany, where games have been played in Frankfurt and Munich, the Colts will give up one of their nine home games during the 2025 season to play at Olympic Stadium against an opponent who will be announced when the full schedule is released in May.

Last year, the Colts acquired international rights in Germany and Austria as part of the NFL’s global markets program. In 2023, the Colts played in Frankfurt against the Patriots—one of nine other teams with marketing rights in Germany—who were the host team that year.

Berlin has a multiyear contract with the NFL, as all three cities in Germany that have hosted games should factor into the league’s long-term international plans, which could eventually see 16 games per season played abroad.

League Without Borders

The NFL can schedule up to eight games outside the U.S. in 2025, up from five in recent seasons. 

The Browns, Jaguars, and Jets are set to host games in London. Madrid is the only other city guaranteed to host an NFL game—the host team for that matchup should be announced soon—but returns to Brazil and Mexico and a debut in Ireland are expected to happen, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last fall.

AFC franchises are likely to host all international games next season, as teams in that conference have an extra home game in 2025. The Steelers are eyeing the Ireland game, Goodell previously said, and the Dolphins have rights in Spain. 

The Broncos, Texans, Chiefs, Raiders, Dolphins, and Steelers are the AFC teams that have rights in Mexico, along with four NFC clubs (Cardinals, Cowboys, Rams, and 49ers). But it could be possible for a team without rights in a certain country to host a game there. The NFL asks for volunteers but can assign a team to give up a home game for an international contest once every eight years.

Moments after the Lakers narrowly edged out the Warriors on Christmas Day, LeBron James sent a message to the sports world: “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”

However, in an appearance on the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce on Wednesday, James backtracked his statement. The Lakers star admitted he saw the viewership numbers for the NBA’s five-game slate compared to the NFL’s doubleheader on Netflix.

“You guys kicked our ass, all right. From a viewership standpoint, y’all kicked our ass,” James said.

The NBA, however, did post positive viewership numbers on Christmas with an average of 5.32 million viewers, up 87% from last year, which cut its overall season viewership decline to 4% from 18%. The Lakers-Warriors clash was the league’s most-watched of the year, with an average of 7.76 million viewers.

Unsurprisingly, the NBA’s ratings paled in comparison to the over 26 million viewers the NFL’s two games drew on Netflix. The NBA fared better when comparing social media numbers—but the NFL also received a boost from the halftime performance of Beyoncé during the Ravens-Texans game.

Ultimately, James, who at 40 years old, is still one of the faces of the NBA, admitted he just felt the need to “stand up for the NBA” on Christmas.

The NBA has played games on Dec. 25 since the 1940s, while the NFL has only sporadically scheduled games on the holiday. However, the NFL has scheduled at least one game on Christmas every year since 2020 and is expected to continue as its deal with Netflix runs for two more years.