ºüÀêÊÓƵ Chiefs?
Nope, the NFL has not returned to the Gateway City. But in terms of television viewership it sure has made a bold statement.
As chronicled recently in this space, the Kansas City Chiefs have dominated ºüÀêÊÓƵ television this season, and their power keeps being reemphasized as they now are surpassing the ratings some Rams games generated when they still were in town. That’s eye-popping even with the Rams having been terrible in their wind-down ºüÀêÊÓƵ years and the Chiefs being the NFL’s best team over the past half-decade. One was a ºüÀêÊÓƵ club. The other is not, and some fans blame KC ownership for backing the Rams’ departure. But TV viewers are undaunted.
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On Monday, the Chiefs entertained Philadelphia in a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl. This time, the Eagles turned the tables with a narrow victory after a close loss in February. The game was shown on KDNL (Channel 30) and ESPN, with an alternate production on ESPN2. Those combined to be seen in 18.1% of homes in the market, according to viewership-tracking company Nielsen. It was the third time a Chiefs game has had a rating here above 18 in their past seven contests, which are believed to be the three highest-rated shows on all of ºüÀêÊÓƵ television in the fall season.
From 2013-15, the Rams’ final three seasons in town before moving back to Southern California, 19 of their games drew a rating in ºüÀêÊÓƵ below 18. Although only people watching in homes were tabulated in the ratings then, and the current figures include those watching in public places such as restaurants and bars that likely is offset by the significant decline in the number of people who watch television now compared to then.
More on the Chiefs-STL bandwagon:
In addition to three of KC’s past seven games having an 18-plus rating in this market, two more were in the 16s — still huge numbers. And there are caveats for the two that did not pull at least a 16 rating. One was exclusively streamed, on Amazon, and those viewership figures are not available. The other was a contest in Germany that kicked off at 8:30 a.m. (ºüÀêÊÓƵ time) on a Sunday and was shown on NFL Network. It drew an 8.2 figure, a huge number for that slot.
Chiefs on ºüÀêÊÓƵ television this season
Date | Opponent | Channel | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Sept. 7 | vs. Detroit | KSDK (5) | 15.4 |
Sept. 17 | at Jacksonville | KMOV (4) | 10.8 |
Sept. 24 | vs. Chicago | KTVI (2) | 13.6 |
Oct. 1 | at NY Jets | KSDK (5) | 18.9 |
Oct. 8 | at Minnesota | KMOV (4) | 16.3 |
Oct. 12 | vs. Denver | Amazon (streaming) | No TV |
Oct. 2 | vs. LA Chargers | KMOV (4) | 16.7 |
Oct. 29 | at Denver | KMOV (4) | 18.4 |
Nov. 5 | vs. Miami (in Germany) | NFL Network | 8.3 |
Nov. 20 | vs. Philadelphia | KDNL (30), ESPN, ESPN2 | 18.1 |