The loss in Super Bowl LIX was a setback, but there’s no denying that the Kansas City Chiefs are the new king of the ring. Everyone from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce and his superstar girlfriend, Taylor Swift , made the Hunt family-owned club a global sensation.
As a result, the Chiefs rightfully bagged seven primetime games in the 2025-26 season.
The Official Kansas City Chiefs 2025 Schedule:
The NFL wants to recover from last year’s fall in viewership
2024 was a monumental year for the NFL. America’s favorite sport established itself as the most-watched event on TV, ahead of the NBA or any other show.
However, according to Nielsen’s data, the league still witnessed a 2% fall in viewership compared to 2023. The primary reason for the dip in people’s interest was the lack of home Kansas City Chiefs games.
Andy Reid’s team played only six games at Arrowhead and occupied fewer (four) prime time slots compared to the New York Jets (with six). The Big Apple team had more prime-time games because of Aaron Rodgers, even though he had recovered from an ACL injury.
Rodgers was no longer a factor in this year’s scheduling, as he has yet to decide which team he will play for. So the NFL shifted its focus back to the Chiefs.
In week one, Mahomes and Kelce will travel to Brazil, a year after the inaugural South American fixture, and play against divisional rivals the Chargers. They also face the Giants, Jaguars, Lions, and Texans in prime-time slots, along with stand-alone fixtures against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving and the Broncos on Christmas Day.
The Taylor Swift effect
One of the big factors in the sudden surge in the NFL viewership is Travis Kelce‘s romance with Grammy-winning singer Taylor Swift. The ‘You Belong With Me’ singer started attending Chiefs games regularly from October onwards.
The NFL capitalized on the development and highlighted Swift in any way possible. She was on the billboards, front covers of every sports journal, and gossip columns. The league reaped the benefits from her presence, even though it annoyed the purists.
The Dallas Cowboys were still the king, but the Chiefs were creeping behind them. Mahomes and Co. witnessed an average of 22 million views in 2023.
It changed in 2024. The Cowboys were dethroned from their position by the Detroit Lions. Dan Campbell’s side became the neutral’s favorite team, and everyone wanted the NFC North team to go far in the playoffs.
“You heard it first: The Lions, a symbol of futility and the inherent unfairness of it all for more years than most of us have been sentient, closed out the regular season as the most-watched NFL franchise. Over the course of 10 wild and woolly national TV dates, Campbell’s charges scared up 22.6 million viewers per game, edging the perennial ratings champs in Dallas by some 175,000 impressions,” Sportico wrote.
The Chiefs were hot on the heels of the Lions. Their AFC Championship fixture against the Bills averaged a staggering 31.1 million viewers. Giving the Chiefs more time on the premium slots will bring in more eyes, especially the newer generation who want to see more of Swift cheering for her beau.
Chiefs’ game in Brazil will be free to watch
Another move to boost the viewership this year, the NFL announced that the week one game in Brazil between the Chiefs will be live-streamed for free on YouTube.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted:
YouTube will exclusively stream the Friday night Week 1 game of the 2025 NFL season in São Paulo, Brazil on Sept. 5 to a worldwide audience on YouTube and YouTube TV. This marks the first exclusive NFL game to be streamed live and for free in its entirety on YouTube.
The NFL is going all out this year by giving the Chiefs the platform to attract more audience. They also expanded the global outreach by introducing additional European games. England and Germany will host multiple games, alongside nations such as Spain, which are set to host their first-ever NFL games in 2025.
