As we were counting down one of the NFL’s manufactured tentpole events — Wednesday’s schedule release — we brought your attention to remarks made by the league’s vice-president of broadcast planning and scheduling Mike North, who often serves as the face of the NFL’s scheduling team.
“For teams like Buffalo, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Green Bay, Dallas [and] Pittsburgh,” North had noted on a recent episode of the “It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo” podcast, “you’re talking about probably six, seven, eight, nine [or] 10 nationally televised games — when you factor in some of these other windows and the doubleheaders. They’ve got to go somewhere. They might mass up a bunch — kind of in a row — somewhere.”
It turned out that North was exactly right about the Kansas City Chiefs. Just as they did in the 2024 season, the team will play a total of 10 games in front of a national audience. In 2025, that will be more nationally-televised games than any other team.
You may have read that the Chiefs are tied with the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys with a total of eight primetime (and so-called “standalone”) games. But that doesn’t consider two other games available to almost every American television: the Week 2 FOX matchup between Kansas City and the Philadelphia Eagles and Week 9’s CBS game featuring the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. Both will be played in the late-afternoon window — and will be the only game on each network’s schedule.
These two contests are among only eight that will get this treatment in 2025. Both the Eagles and Bills will have one more nationally televised late-afternoon matchup, while the Seattle Seahawks and Las Vegas Raiders will each get two. Six other teams will have one apiece.
When these are added in, the Chiefs have the most national games with 10, followed by the Eagles with nine, the Commanders, Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings with eight and the Bills and Detroit Lions with seven.
There’s been some bellyaching about this. Our Jared Sapp grasped it very well in his Thursday-morning take.
You may have a friend or cousin living in another market groaning that the Chiefs have too many high-profile slots. Someone you’ve interacted with on social media might even swear off watching Kansas City in prime time for fear that a few seconds of the broadcast may feature a high-profile romantic partner of a certain tight end. Someone somewhere still clings to anger over perceived biased officiating, vowing to never tune in to the Chiefs — or possibly football in general — again.
The NFL appears ready to call the bluff of its most angry clients.
But the league isn’t doing this to make its fans angry. It’s doing it because the Chiefs draw big ratings. That’s not because Kansas City is a big market. It’s just that the team is fun to watch.
Except for two of last season’s games (one of which he spent on the sidelines), quarterback Patrick Mahomes always keeps the team in a position to win — and routinely snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. Even if you’re a fan of another team, that’s exciting to watch.
And while some complain about seeing Taylor Swift during the game, there are many more who tune in hoping to catch a glimpse of the world’s most famous pop star.
What’s most interesting, however, is what all this means for the team’s future. As the Cowboys have demonstrated during the 47 years it has been known as “America’s Team,” it isn’t necessary to be one of the league’s best teams every season to maintain that standing. People who become fans of an NFL team tend to remain fans of that team.
We know this well. Most Kansas City fans who began following Hank Stram’s Chiefs didn’t bail out during the 1980s — and those who started during Marty Schottenheimer’s tenure have generally stuck around, too.
So as the team’s dynasty continues, it seems likely the Chiefs will soon eclipse the Cowboys as “America’s Team.” As Pete Sweeney noted in this week’s edition of Arrowhead Pride’s “Editors’ Show,” they may soon be vying to become the league’s “World Team,” too.
While Kansas City still has a long way to go to catch the Jacksonville Jaguars — who have played 13 games overseas — it will have its fourth international matchup in September. The Chiefs have also been granted marketing rights in seven countries. The Cowboys, in contrast, have played overseas just once — and only hold marketing rights in Mexico.
Watch out, world. Here come the Chiefs!
