What the Chiefs Have to Be Thankful For

When Kansas City visits Dallas on Thanksgiving (3:30 p.m. CT, CBS/KCTV, Channel 5, 96.5 The Fan), the NFL gets the world’s team against America’s Team. The net result, according to industry experts, will shatter the league’s regular-season viewership record.

The existing record

Dallas helped to establish the existing regular-season record of 42.1 million viewers at AT&T Stadium three years ago on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys’ 28-20 victory over the Giants. Many analysts predict the Chiefs and Cowboys this week will blast that record into the stratosphere, potentially topping 50 million.

“It's an honor to be asked to play on those days,” head coach Andy Reid said Tuesday, asked about playing on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. “It means you're doing, or have done, halfway decent, right? So, it's not a lot of games being played either one of those two days. That's what I think. That's the way you have to approach it.”

Throw in Packers-Lions in the early game (12 p.m. CT, FOX), the leadoff hitter in a Thanksgiving triple-header that concludes with Joe Burrow’s return in Baltimore, and the NFL has as good of a single-day schedule as the league has ever compiled.

The NFL and the Chiefs have a lot for which to be grateful. In fact, Green Bay’s trip to Detroit could also break that regular-season record from three years ago in Dallas, only hours before Chiefs-Cowboys breaks it again.

Entering 2022, the largest viewership for a regular-season NFL game was 41.5 million for a New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers on a Monday night in 1990. Combined, the first two games this year on Thanksgiving will more than double that figure.

Kansas City also holds a share of the all-time viewership record, 127.7 for FOX’s production of Super Bowl 59 in February. And four of the five largest television audiences this season include the Chiefs, another reason to be grateful. That quartet of ratings darlings includes the most-watched 2025 game so far, 33.8 million for Kansas City’s 20-17 loss at home to the Eagles in Week 2 on FOX.

“You grew up watching Thanksgiving games,” said Mahomes, who hails from Whitehouse, Texas, less than three hours from AT&T Stadium. “No matter who you're a fan of, if it's the Lions, the Cowboys or whoever's playing at night. I mean, you grew up watching those games, and so I think that kid in me wants to be able to go out there and play on Thanksgiving and find a way to win.

“And, obviously, short week where we're grinding in here right now and getting the whole gameplan in and making sure everybody's prepared and ready to go. But I think we're excited to get to go out there and play on Thanksgiving against a really good football team and the whole world watching.”

Dallas, meanwhile, played in the fifth game in that group, drawing 28.3 million in the traditional kickoff game on NBC against the Eagles in Week 1.

The league and television networks should release final viewership numbers next week.

Don’t miss what’s on the horizon for your beloved team, Chiefs Kingdom. The best in-depth news is available totally FREE with our newsletter, fresh in your inbox every day. SIGN UP HERE NOW.