Maybe it’s the Taylor Swift effect; maybe everybody wanted to tune in and watch the best of the best, or maybe we just missed NFL football so much.
The league is a never-ending money-making machine, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
As pointed out by Michael McCarthy on X, the season-opening clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens set a new viewership record for a season opener, peaking at 28.9 million viewers across NBC and Peacock.
The one-two punch of Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift delivered record numbers for the NFL.
Thursday night Chiefs-Ravens shattered the record for most-watched Kickoff Game, averaging 28.9M viewers across NBC and Peacock.https://t.co/N4OgepBSMa
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) September 7, 2024
Fans have complained about the many streaming services and packages they have to acquire to watch the NFL, but the fact of the matter is that they will continue to pay for it.
The league knows it, and they have pretty much all the leverage here.
Of course, everybody wants to watch the best going against the best, and this AFC Championship Game rematch promised to be one of the best games of the season.
Notably, the teams didn’t disappoint at all.
The game went down to the wire, and it took until the very last play to settle a winner, with Isaiah Likely stepping just out of bounds to rule that touchdown reception off.
Lamar Jackson missed two wide-open throws to potentially send the game to overtime but fell short of the goal against Patrick Mahomes again, and the defending back-to-back Super Bowl champions are off to a strong start.
This is a promising season, and more fans will continue to tune in as the Chiefs strive to make history.
