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As the Kansas City Chiefs prepared to take on the Dallas Cowboys, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared his anticipation for the game.
“We’re thrilled about the opportunity to play on Thanksgiving against a top-tier team,” Mahomes remarked. “It’s going to be an exciting event with the whole world tuned in.”
Mahomes’ prediction about the widespread attention was spot-on.
The Thanksgiving showdown between the Chiefs and Cowboys, broadcast by CBS Sports, captivated a record-breaking audience of 57.23 million viewers, setting a new benchmark as the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.
The late afternoon Thanksgiving broadcast typically featuring the Cowboys is consistently the most-viewed regular-season NFL matchup each year.
Even when both teams involved have losing records and are relying on backup quarterbacks, the Thanksgiving clash between the New York Giants and Cowboys in 2024 still managed to draw an impressive 38.5 million viewers, marking it as the top-rated game of the season.
In fact, even though both teams had losing records and were led by backup quarterbacks, New York Giants at Cowboys on Thanksgiving of 2024 drew an audience of 38.5 million — the highest viewership for any game all season.
But this year’s CBS Thanksgiving game was up 47% from that game because it featured not only the Cowboys, America’s Team, but also the Chiefs, the reigning NFL dynasty who has played in the last three Super Bowls, and Taylor Swift fiancé/Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“The NFL, Thanksgiving, Chiefs, Cowboys,” CBS Sports president/CEO David Berson said in a statement, “a perfect recipe for a record audience.”
The previous regular-season record was also for a Cowboys game on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys’ 28-20 victory against the Giants on Nov. 24, 2022 drew 42.1 million. The Cowboys’ 31-28 win against the Chiefs shattered that record by 36%.
Viewership peaked at 61.357 million for the game’s thrilling conclusion from 7:45-8:00 p.m. EST.
Duke-Arkansas Follow-Up Game
With that kind of lead-in game, CBS also received record-breaking ratings for the CBS Sports Classic, featuring Duke and Arkansas, which began immediately following the NFL game’s conclusion.
It was the most-watched, regular-season, college basketball game on any network in more than 30 years, drawing 6.813 million viewers. (Indiana’s 93-78 win against Purdue in the Bob Knight era recorded 7.225 million viewers on Feb. 21, 1993.)
Last year’s CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic between Illinois and Arkansas in Kansas City, Mo., was the most-watched, regular-season, college basketball game on any network in 2024-25, averaging 5.174 million viewers.
And this year CBS worked with Intersport, a Chicago-based sports event company, to add Duke, one of the biggest brands in college basketball, vs. John Calipari and Arkansas in Chicago.
“We’re thrilled to once again feature two premier programs in a high-impact window on Thanksgiving,” said Dan Weinberg, CBS Sports executive vice president of programming, via email, “to tip off our regular-season schedule on CBS and start our run to March.”
Led by Cameron Boozer’s 35 points, Duke won 80-71 against Arkansas to remain undefeated.
Cowboys Rising and Chiefs Falling
Though Arkansas alumnus/Cowboys owner Jerry Jones probably wasn’t thrilled with that basketball score, he likely was elated with his NFL team’s performance on Thanksgiving.
Since making mid-season trade acquisitions, their defense has improved, and the Cowboys impressively beat last year’s Super Bowl participants — the Philadelphia Eagles and Chiefs — in successive weeks.
In contrast the Chiefs’ loss to the Cowboys dropped Kansas City, who has played in the last three Super Bowls, to 6-6 and desperately needing a win in Sunday night’s home game against the Houston Texans.
That will be a huge game between two teams hoping to make the playoffs, but it won’t draw the eyeballs that last Thursday’s seismic game did.
(Editor’s note: Story has been updated to include latest ratings from Duke-Arkansas game.)
