Even amid the NFL’s stellar rating season, the league continues to reach new heights.
After posting 7% audience growth during the regular season and the best wild-card playoff viewership in eight years, the NFL made more history with the Saturday primetime divisional playoff game between the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers. Shown on Fox Sports, the contest is projected to be the most-watched Saturday telecast on any U.S. network since the 1994 Winter Olympics, an event just shy of 30 years ago, with an average of 37.5 million viewers.
The game is also projected to land as the most-watched Saturday NFL divisional game on record, the most-watched Saturday telecast in Fox’s 37-year history, and a 31% boost from the comparable game (Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants) last year.
Several factors played into the strong viewership numbers. In addition to the rising momentum of the league, the 49ers-Packers game pitted two of the league’s most popular teams against each other, extending a long postseason history between them. The 24-21 San Francisco victory was also one of the closest games of the NFL postseason, capped with a game-winning touchdown in the final 75 seconds of play.
Viewership data from the earlier Saturday NFL playoff game–the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans–has not been released.
Super Bowl Sphere
Since its debut last fall, the Sphere in Las Vegas is increasingly becoming a sports fixture. Now, the next-generation venue is raising its typical rates for its LED display “exosphere” during the week leading up to Super Bowl LVIII. Display time on the Sphere that initially sold for $450,000 per day and $650,000 per week will rise to between $1 million and $2 million per day, according to Campaign U.S., with rates rising closer to the Feb. 11 game at nearby Allegiant Stadium.
The Sphere has sold out its Super Bowl week advertising, and thanks in part to its popular social media presence, the building is frequently a viral hit.
![The University of Alabama showed off renovations to Bryant Denny Stadium Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Sports Illustrated covers decorate the walls inside the new press box. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/USATSI_15005835_168422351_lowres-scaled-e1779297429645.jpg?quality=80&w=300)
