Several of the most-watched regular-season games in NFL history have taken place on Thanksgiving Day, and Jim Nantz believes one of the next Turkey Day matchups has a chance to be the biggest ever.
Nantz spoke about the 2025 NFL schedule during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” Thursday. The longtime CBS play-by-play announcer discussed some of the nine CBS games that the Kansas City Chiefs have this upcoming season, and he made a big prediction about the one on Thanksgiving Day.
The Dallas Cowboys are hosting the Chiefs in Week 13 on Thanksgiving Day. Nantz called the teams “two of the biggest brands right now in the NFL” and said he expects that game to set viewership records.
“To put those two gigantic brands together on the most-watched day of the regular season in the NFL, it’s gonna set records,” Nantz said, as transcribed by Reice Shipley of Awful Announcing. “That’s not what I’m out for it to do. I just hope it’s a great football game. It will be a wonderful matchup to call on Thanksgiving. KC at Dallas, it’s the game we wanted. We wanted KC and Buffalo, also. I think those are the headlines on our schedule.”
Eisen, who noted that Nantz is not a “clickbaiter,” agreed that the game has a chance to be the most-watched regular-season game Nantz has ever called.
“I think, and I have spoken with people at the NFL as well when the schedule came out, I think the Chiefs-Cowboys could be the most-watched game that you have ever called in a regular season,” Eisen said.
The Cowboys played the New York Giants on Thanksgiving in 2022, and that currently stands as the most-watched game in NFL regular-season history with 42.1 million viewers. If Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott are both healthy in Week 13, there is no reason to doubt that this year’s Chiefs-Cowboys game could surpass that number.
In addition to their Thanksgiving Day matchup, the Cowboys and Chiefs are both playing on Christmas Day as well. Kansas City will host the Denver Broncos while Dallas will be on the road against the Washington Commanders. Fans all made the same joke about the Cowboys playing on both holidays.
