MLB, NFL Poised To Make Sports TV History Thursday Night

Thursday night is shaping up to be an unprecedented night of TV sports for the NFL and Major League Baseball.

Amazon Prime Video believes it’s the first time in the 16-year history of “Thursday Night Football” that NFL and MLB teams from the same opposing cities are playing on both TNF and in the World Series on the same night.

With the World Series tied 2-2, sports fans in Philadelphia and Houston will have to make some hard choices Thursday night.

On Amazon’s TNF, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Houston Texans (8:15 p.m. ET). The 7-0 Eagles are the last undefeated team in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Fox will air Game 5 of the 2022 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros from the City of Brotherly Love (8 p.m. ET).

Media

| by Michael McCarthy

After Strong Viewership Start, World Series Must Compete With NFL

TV viewership for Phillies-Astros is up 4% over first two games.

November 1, 2022

MLB executives originally built a World Series schedule that ducked head-to-head viewing competition against live NFL games. But the rainout of Game 3 forced MLB to extend its game schedule for the Fall Classic by another day.

Now Fox’s broadcast of Game 5 will air against Amazon’s TNF — and if it goes to a decisive Game 7, Fox’s coverage will have to compete with NBC Sports’ broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans on “Sunday Night Football.”

During Amazon’s pre and post-game TNF coverage from NRG Stadium in Houston, their crew will touch on news from the World Series. Meanwhile, the Texans plan to switch most of the TV screens inside the stadium over to Game 5, according to the Associated Press.

Before the Astros’ 5-0 combined no-hit win in Game 4, Fox was averaging 11,179,000 viewers through the first three games of the Fall Classic. That’s up 2% over last season’s three-game average — and 25% from 2020.