The Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs are two of the NFL’s most popular teams, so why wouldn’t the league have them play on Thanksgiving?
On Wednesday, the league announced the Cowboys will host the Chiefs on Nov. 27 (Week 13) at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS/Paramount+. It’s the first time the teams have played on Thanksgiving since the 1995 season. Dallas won that matchup 24-12.
The Cowboys have played on Thanksgiving every season since 1966. Their annual matchup typically scores big ratings, even when it lacks star power.
Last Thanksgiving, Dallas’ 27-20 victory over the New York Giants drew 38.5 million viewers, the fourth-highest TV rating in Turkey Day history, via USA Today’s Nick Brinkerhoff.
That matchup featured former Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush and former Giants backup QB Drew Lock. Cowboys starting QB Dak Prescott didn’t play because he had suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in a Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Imagine what should happen when the league adds Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and Kelce’s girlfriend, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, to the mix.
“The thinking, based on talking to a number of different people at different networks, is that the NFL thinks the game can set a record for the most-viewed NFL regular-season game in history,” wrote The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch in a Thursday column.
The most-watched regular-season game in NFL history was in the 2022 season, when the Cowboys beat the Giants 28-20 on Thanksgiving. Per Deitsch, 42.1 million viewers watched that game. He wrote the Cowboys-Chiefs matchup has an “outside shot at reaching 50 million viewers if it’s close in the final quarter.”
Outrageous ticket prices for the game should also keep plenty of fans at home. Citing data from Vivid Seats, ESPN’s Adam Schefter shared the average ticket price for Cowboys-Chiefs was $1,491 on Thursday morning.
According to Front Office Sports’ Rodney Reeves, the Chiefs were the league’s most-watched team last regular season (25.5 million viewers per game). The Cowboys, meanwhile, tied the Baltimore Ravens as the third-most-watched team (23.14 million viewers per game).
With that in mind, their Thanksgiving matchup should be appointment TV for many fans, putting it in a position to shatter records.
