Here is why marquee Chiefs-Bills game is not being played in prime time Sunday
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NFL scheduled Chiefs-Bills in late Sunday afternoon, keeping the marquee game on CBS.
- League places marquee matchup in afternoon to maximize TV reach and advertising revenue.
- Past ratings show afternoon slot outperforms prime time for Chiefs-Bills viewership.
CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz admits he was a little nervous when the NFL announced the 2025 schedule in May.
While the NFL reveals when all 272 games will be played, there is one that stands above all others: the Chiefs-Bills contest.
When the Chiefs play the Bills this Sunday at 3:25 p.m., it’ll be the 10th time the teams have met since 2020. That includes four playoff meetings in the last five seasons in what has become the NFL’s best rivalry.
And, to Nantz’s relief, the game will be on CBS (KCTV-5 in Kansas City).
“In the weeks leading up to the schedule release, I’m always fretting over whether or not we’re going to get that game,” Nantz said. “And thankfully, this will be the 10th time that the Bills and Chiefs have met with Patrick (Mahomes) and Josh (Allen) at quarterback, and for us, it’ll be the eighth of the 10 matchups that have landed on our watch, including seven in a row.”
Because it’s the marquee matchup each season thanks to Mahomes, Allen and the playoff history, one might wonder why the game won’t be played in prime time.
The NFL could have put it on Sunday, Monday or Thursday night. Instead, it’ll air in the late Sunday afternoon window again. Chiefs-Bills is the biggest game being played Sunday, trumping the Seahawks-Commanders contest that’ll be on “Sunday Night Football.”
Mike North, the NFL’s Vice President of Broadcasting, talked last year about the league’s thinking regarding the Chiefs-Bills game on the “It’s Always Gameday In Buffalo” podcast. He noted networks can’t “protect” games like Chiefs-Bills when the schedule is released, which is why Nantz was nervous and then relieved earlier this year.
North explained the NFL’s thinking on Sunday night games.
“Obviously, every game has a story to it, but some games have a bigger story than others,” North said. “If there’s something that the fans are really interested in — this Buffalo-Kansas City game we’re talking about is a good barometer. You put that game on ‘Sunday Night Football’ and it probably does 23-25 million viewers. That’s an awful lot of people who are going to be willing to stay awake Sunday night until 11:30 at night on the East Coast, hopefully after having watched the 1 o’clock window and the 4 o’clock window and maybe even the 9:30 a.m. window that day.
“You’re talking about 12 hours of NFL football, that’s asking a lot. So you put a game like Buffalo-Kansas City on Sunday night, that probably gives people a reason to stay and tune in and watch.”
Those viewership numbers sound good, right?
But, as North noted, ratings will likely be better in the late afternoon as compared to a prime-time matchup.
“You put that game on Sunday afternoon — CBS, FOX (at) 4:25 (p.m. Eastern) — you actually probably beat that number. You probably get closer to 30 million. So is that a better use of that asset?”
North’s prediction was spot-on. It was in 2024.
Buffalo’s 30-21 win over the Chiefs last season had 31.2 million viewers on CBS. The Bills’ website said it was the most-watched regular season non-holiday NFL game since the Patriots-Colts meeting in Week 9 in 2007 (33.8 million).
That explains why the NFL would be inclined to leave the Chiefs-Bills matchup out of prime time.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Here is why marquee Chiefs-Bills game is not being played in prime time Sunday."
