The NFL has placed its top two viewership draws in a Thanksgiving afternoon blockbuster that could post the highest viewership of any 2025 regular-season game, and perhaps set an all-time record on the holiday.
CBS Sports said early Wednesday that the Chiefs will travel to Dallas for the Cowboys’ traditional late-afternoon Thanksgiving slot. The Paramount-owned network will air the game, with the window traditionally holding one of the largest draws of each NFL season.
Last season, that window with a Giants-Cowboys game drew an average audience of 38.8 million, the highest viewership for any game all season, despite both teams ultimately posting losing records. The total for that contest more than doubled the league’s overall per-game average of 17.5 million.
This time, the late-afternoon Thanksgiving game will involve a Cowboys team many are hoping to rebound, particularly following a recent trade with the Steelers for wide receiver George Pickens, as well as the perennially strong Chiefs. Kansas City recently supplanted Dallas as the NFL’s most-watched team.
The all-time viewership record for a Thanksgiving game happened in 2022, with an average of 42.1 million tuning in for a Giants-Cowboys clash that also set a modern-era record for any NFL regular-season game.
In keeping with both teams’ strong national followings, the Cowboys were chosen to face the Eagles in the all-important kickoff game on Sept. 4 on NBC, while the Chiefs will also be participating in the Sept. 5 game in Brazil on YouTube, as well as Amazon’s nightcap of an NFL Christmas tripleheader.
The full NFL schedule release, containing a series of notable changes from last year, will happen Wednesday night. Two other highly anticipated games, a visit by the Chiefs to Buffalo and a Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Chiefs and Eagles in Kansas City, have yet to be disclosed.
