A high-stakes clash between two of the NFL’s biggest brands could deliver record-breaking viewership in 2025. Legendary CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz has predicted that the Thanksgiving Day showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs has all the ingredients to become the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.
Jim Nantz Predicts Thanksgiving Chiefs-Cowboys Clash Could Break Records
On The Rich Eisen Show, Nantz expressed his excitement about calling the Week 13 matchup between the Cowboys and Chiefs.
“On Thanksgiving Day, Kansas City at Dallas, you could argue two of the biggest brands right now in the NFL,” said Nantz. “The Cowboys have obviously been the brand, the national team moniker, for 40 years at least. And now Kansas City is trying to lay claim to that.”
Dallas regularly hosts the most-͏watched regular-season game each ͏year with its traditional Thanksgiving Day slot. ͏However, this time, the stakes are higher. Instead of facing a familiar division rival or a lower-profile team, the Cowboys will host the reigning ͏AFC champion Chiefs, ͏a team that has reached three ͏straight Super Bowls and won two of them.
“They are trying to get a piece of Christmas Day on a full-time basis,” Nantz continued. “They are well in play anywhere because they are such a brand team and they are so good.”
The Thanksgiving Day game will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET and air on CBS, with the matchup taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. According to Nantz, this is precisely the kind of marquee pairing the network wanted for the holiday. “KC at Dallas, it’s the game we wanted,” he said. “We wanted KC and Buffalo, also. I think those are the headlines on our schedule.”
Rich Eisen agreed with Nantz’s outlook, stating, “I think the Chiefs-Cowboys could be the most-watched game that you have ever called in a regular season.” Nantz didn’t hesitate to affirm the possibility: “I think it has a good chance of that.”
This bold prediction comes in the context of a brutal schedule for the Cowboys, who enter 2025 with one of the league’s toughest slates. The Chiefs are the only team scheduled for more primetime appearances than the Cowboys. The season will begin with Dallas visiting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4, a Thursday night opener on NBC and Peacock.
While both teams are loaded with star power and national appeal, the only threat to record-breaking ratings would be if either team’s season collapses early. As one article by Sports Illustrated’s Josh Sanchez put it: “The only thing that could derail ratings would be either team having a shockingly bad start to the season… So let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”