• Loading stock data...
Tuesday, July 1, 2025

NFL’s Schedule Points to Network Strategies: Chiefs Lead, Texans Rise

  • The two-time defending champions are a fixture across many of the league’s tentpole events.
  • The upcoming slate is optimized in many ways for more viewership growth.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL’s media partners have made no secret a big part of their plan to achieve more ratings growth in the 2024 season: ride the Chiefs as far as they’ll go. 

With Wednesday night’s release of the full, 272-game regular-season schedule, the two-time defending Super Bowl winners are playing perhaps an even bigger role among the various networks than what might have been expected for any other title winner. Kansas City will host the season-opening game on Sept. 5 against the Ravens, a previously announced matchup that maintains current NFL practice of beginning the season in the home stadium of the defending Super Bowl champion. 

But the Chiefs are a significant presence in many other tentpole parts of the schedule. Among the key dates for the team:

  • A high-profile Sept. 15 matchup against the Bengals that will be the first late-afternoon Sunday national game of the season for CBS. 
  • A Black Friday game against the Raiders. Amazon will again carry that game, and is aiming for a better result than last year’s somewhat-disappointing result for the debut edition with Jets-Dolphins.
  • A Saturday game on Dec. 21 against the Texans that is a newly added part of NBC Sports’ schedule and will be shown nationally. 
  • A Christmas Day game against the Steelers that is part of the much-anticipated entry of Netflix into NFL game broadcasts.
  • Four additional primetime appearances across NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

It’s all part of an effort by the NFL and its media partners to pursue a repeat of the banner 2023 campaign that included an across-the-board sweep of ratings increases in the regular season and every part of the playoffs. As the NFL continues to separate out its schedule to create more standalone games, the Chiefs over the upcoming season will play on every day of the week with the exception of a Tuesday.

More Schedule Highlights

Almost every year, there is a team that is positioned as a breakout story, based in part on the rise in national TV appearances on the schedule. Last year, that team was the Lions. And this year, it’s the Texans, who are coming off a trip to the divisional round of the playoffs and have both the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year (C.J. Stroud) and Defensive Rookie of the Year (Will Anderson Jr.) from last year on the roster.

The Texans will be featured this year in six national appearances, including Christmas Day against the Ravens and that Dec. 21 game in Kansas City.

Amazon, meanwhile, will be getting all 14 playoff teams on its 2024 schedule for Thursday Night Football, while NBC Sports has 13 games involving matchups of postseason participants last year, ESPN has the much-anticipated Harbaugh Bowl on Nov. 25 between the Ravens (coached by John Harbaugh) and Chargers (coached by Jim Harbaugh), CBS Sports will air at least eight Chiefs games—twice as many as any other network, and Fox Sports will show the Super Bowl LVIII rematch between the Chiefs and 49ers on Oct. 20. 

Social Media Frenzy

The Super Bowl for NFL players arrives in February. But the Super Bowl for each team’s social media staff arrives on the day of the schedule release, and this year was no exception as each of them sought to showcase their upcoming slate. 

Inventive displays of the schedule were developed by teams such as the Chargers, Rams, Ravens, and Falcons

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Nuggets, Rockets Make Aggressive Moves to Challenge Thunder

Denver took the Thunder to seven games in the conference semifinals.

ESPN, MLB Relationship May Not Be Over After All

The parties restart rights talks amid a high-profile divorce in February.

College Sports Revenue-Sharing Underway As More Changes Loom

July 1 marks the first day schools can directly pay players.
Jun 10, 2025; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) drops back to pass during minicamp at their South Side facility.
opinion

Steelers Win-Now Mode Is Good News for NFL Media Partners

The conservative “Steeler Way” has finally adapted—and media partners are happy.

Featured Today

The Battle Over Wimbledon’s Ambitious Expansion Plan

A classic NIMBY standoff on one of the most hallowed grounds in sports.
Seattle Rough & Tumble
June 28, 2025

Women’s Sports Bars Are on the Rise. Survival Isn’t Guaranteed

Some women’s sports bars are cashing in. Others are clawing for funding.
June 27, 2025

Shitposters Have Taken the Reins of Pro Sports’ Official Voices

Meet the social media pros turning sports teams into internet trolls.
Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) hoists the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena
June 26, 2025

Stanley Cup’s International Summer Tour: Rules, Repairs, and Raucousness

No pro trophy tour compares to the NHL’s three-month global victory lap.
Leo Messi

TNT, Club World Cup Ride Messi to Surprisingly Solid Debut Ratings

TNT Sports carries about a third of matches in the U.S.
June 23, 2025

NBA Finals Game 7 Is Most-Watched Since 2019, but Series Drops 9%

Game 7 drew 16.35 million viewers, the most-watched NBA game since 2019.
June 24, 2025

Fever vs. Aces Draws 5th-Largest TV Audience of 2025 WNBA Season

ESPN will carry seven more Indiana Fever games this year.
Sponsored

Hottest Matchups Following NFL Schedule Release

The NFL released the 2025 regular-season schedule, and anticipation is already building in the ticket marketplace with four months to go.
June 19, 2025

Pacers Force Game 7, Could Spark Big Ratings Boost for NBA Finals

Game 7 could boost NBA Finals ratings after a slow start this year.
June 17, 2025

Stanley Cup Final Delivers Drama but Struggles for Eyeballs in U.S.

U.S. viewership fell while Canadian audiences for the event rose slightly.
June 17, 2025

Streaming Tops Linear for First Time, Sports Still Key to TV’s Resilience

Streaming hits another critical milestone in an accelerating media transition.
June 17, 2025

Zaslav Takes Pay Cut, TNT Sports Future Unclear in WBD Shake-Up

The TNT Sports parent company retools its executive pay after shareholder pushback.