The Kansas City Chiefs spoiled the Patriots’ season opener — and perhaps NBC’s ratings.
Thursday’s Chiefs-Patriots NFL Kickoff Game delivered a 14.6 overnight rating on NBC, down 12% from Panthers-Broncos last year (16.5), down 18% from Steelers-Patriots in 2015 (17.7), and the lowest mark for the season opener since Titans-Steelers in 2009 (13.8).
The 14.6 is also the lowest for any Week 1 game on NBC since the same 2009 season.
The 12% decline is the biggest for the Kickoff Game since 2008, when overnights sank 22% from 13.0 to 10.1. That year, the Giants opened the season against Washington in a special 7 PM ET timeslot to accommodate news coverage.
As impressive as the Chiefs looked Thursday night, they are not among the NFL’s highest-profile teams. The league backed away from a Falcons-Patriots Super Bowl rematch to open the season, wary of Carolina’s complaints about opening against Denver in the same situation last year. There were few other good options as the Patriots have a fairly weak home schedule this year.
Providence, R.I., led all markets with a 35.6 rating. Kansas City (35.5) and Boston (35.0) ranked second and third. Denver was the top neutral market at a 20.6, with New Orleans rounding out the top five 20.4. Compared to the last time the Patriots hosted the Kickoff Game, ratings in Boston declined 11% — while ratings in nearby Providence increased 3%.
[Thu. numbers from NBC]
