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FOX Made Surprising Decision On 2025 Dallas Cowboys Games

Originally posted on The Spun | By Andrew Gould | Last updated May 15, 2025 5:04 PM ET

Some fans may have developed Dallas Cowboys fatigue watching "America's Team" receive an exorbitant amount of attention over the years. FOX appeared to address that feeling when crafting a 2025 NFL broadcasting schedule.

Although they went 7-10 last year, the Cowboys trail only the Kansas City Chiefs with six primetime games. Those extra evening contests give FOX fewer chances to televise Dallas, but the network doesn't seem to mind.

Mike Mulvihill, the President of insights and analytics at FOX Sports, told The Athletic's Richard Deitsch that the network wanted to decrease its Cowboys exposure in the late-afternoon Sunday slot to showcase other top NFL teams more often.

"Of our 4:25 p.m. games, only three of them are Cowboys games,” Mulvihill said. "In other years, we've gone looking for five or six Dallas games at 4:25. What we wanted for this year was more AFC, more Philly, but also more Detroit and a little more Washington to try to capitalize on the Jayden Daniels story. I think we have a better mix of teams than we've had in the past."

Last year, FOX featured Dallas in America's Game of the Week three times in the first six weeks alone. Tom Brady made his broadcasting debut calling a Cowboys victory over the Cleveland Browns.

FOX promoted four Cowboys games in that spot this season, including a Week 18 contest under flex scheduling. They also advertised three Detroit Lions matchups and four Philadelphia Eagles bouts, including a Super Bowl rematch against Kansas City in Week 2.

According to Sportico, the Lions surpassed the Cowboys as last season's ratings leader with 22.65 million average viewers per nationally televised game. Dallas finished second despite losing Dak Prescott to a season-ending hamstring injury in Week 9.

"Sometimes we've heard exasperation from fans that the Fox 4:25 game is always the Cowboys," Mulvihill said. "It's still gonna be the Cowboys sometimes this year, but you'll see a little bit more variety in terms of top teams in our 4:25 window."

Fans (and detractors) will still get plenty of opportunities to watch the Cowboys. They'll open the season against the Eagles on NBC with two more Sunday Night Football clashes, two Monday games on ESPN, a Thursday Night Football game against Detroit, a Thanksgiving showdown with the Chiefs on CBS, and a Christmas game on Netflix.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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