Philadelphia Eagles fan Matt Quinn reacts as the Kansas City Chiefs score a touchdown against the Eagles at a watch party for Super Bowl LVII at Grotto Pizza in Wilmington, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. The Chiefs won 38-35

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Record 182.8M tuned into Super Bowl LIX

A record 182.8 million unique viewers turned into Super Bowl LIX for at least one minute, according to new Nielsen data released on Tuesday.

Nielsen previously announced that the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 win against the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 9 in New Orleans averaged a record 127.7 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo and streaming services.

The higher numbers announced Tuesday are from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel “Reach” methodology. The new metric “more precisely measures out-of-home viewing,” according to Nielsen.

The reach of 182.8 million viewers exceeded the previous record of 182.2 million set one year earlier with Super Bowl LVIII.

Historically, Nielsen has used a Total Audience measurement. The company said it retired that metric in January in favor of the new Big Data + Panel numbers.

–Field Level Media

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts holds the Lombardi Trophy during the championship trophy presentation after the Eagles' game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Super Bowl LIX draws record 127.7 million viewers

A record 127.7 million viewers watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, according to the official Nielsen numbers released Tuesday.

The game in New Orleans aired on Fox, Fox Deportes and Telemundo and streamed on Tubi and drew a combined average household rating of 41.7 and combined household share of 83. The audience peaked at 137.7 million during the second quarter, from 8 to 8:15 p.m. ET.

Viewership was up 3.2 percent over the previous year, when a then-record 123.7 million watched the Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in Las Vegas.

The Super Bowl is annually the most watched U.S. telecast of the year. In fact, 19 of the top 20 most-viewed telecasts in national history are Super Bowls, the lone exception being the final episode of the sitcom “M*A*S*H,” which drew 105.9 million viewers in 1983.

–Field Level Media

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; A general view as Fox NFL Sunday co-host Terry Bradshaw interviews Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) after winning against Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Fox projections put Super Bowl viewership at record high

Despite the Super Bowl being a blowout, an average of 126 million U.S. viewers tuned in to see the Philadelphia Eagles thrash the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 on Sunday, according to estimates Monday from Fox Sports.

The game in New Orleans was available for viewing on Fox, Telemundo, Fox Deportes, Tubi and the NFL digital’s channels.

The old record of 123.7 million was set a year ago when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime on a game shown by CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision and streaming channels.

Fox projected the peak viewership for Sunday was 135.7 million in the second quarter, from 8-8:15 p.m. ET. By halftime, the Eagles led 24-0 and the competitive portion of the game was essentially over.

Tubi, which made the broadcast available for free, drew 13.6 million viewers, part of a total of 14.5 million people estimated to have streamed the game.

The official ratings for the Super Bowl, calculated by Nielsen, are due to be announced on Tuesday.

The Super Bowl is annually the most watched U.S. telecast of the year. In fact, 19 of the top 20 most-viewed telecasts in national history are Super Bowls, the lone exception being the final episode of the sitcom “M*A*S*H,” which drew 105.9 million viewers in 1983.

Until this year’s official numbers come out, No. 1 on the list is last year’s Super Bowl, and No. 2 is the Super Bowl from February 2023, when 115 million saw the Chiefs edge the Eagles 38-35 in Glendale, Ariz.

–Field Level Media

Feb 12, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; The Super Bowl LIX logo at the Super Bowl Host Committee Handoff press conference at the Super Bowl LVIII media center at the Mandalay Bay North Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Reports: Price tag reaches $8M for Super Bowl LIX commercials

Fox Corp. has sold at least 10 commercials for Super Bowl LIX for $8 million apiece, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.

The price tag is said to be about $500,000 higher than last year, far exceeding the typical year-over-year increase of $100,000.

Fox announced in November that it had already sold out its available ad spots for the game, which attracted an audience of 123.7 million viewers last year.

“What was unique to this Super Bowl, or this marketplace, was we had a lot more people that weren’t in the game at all, all of a sudden be like, ‘No, no, I have to get in the game,’” Fox Sports executive vice president/ad sales Mark Evans said, per ESPN.

“If I learned anything, it’s that we’re in a period now where the live sporting event, where people and families come together to watch, is that much more coveted. There’s an escalation in price and interest in the demand for live sports, but we’re not at its peak. We’ve still got runway for growth.”

The Kansas City Chiefs will attempt to pull off the first Super Bowl three-peat when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl LVII rematch on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.

–Field Level Media

NFL legend Tom Brady is all smiles before an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Report: Fox rebuffs Netflix request for Tom Brady on Christmas game

Fox rejected a request from Netflix to have Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt call one of the two NFL games the streaming service will broadcast on Christmas, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Brady and Burkhardt are in their first season as Fox Sports’ lead NFL broadcasting duo. Brady joined the booth this year as an analyst after an illustrious 23-year career as an NFL quarterback with the New England Patriots (2000-19) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2020-22) before retiring in February 2023. He signed a reported 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports.

The Post reported that Netflix is now eyeing CBS’s Ian Eagle and his son, NBC play-by-play man Noah Eagle, along with Fox analyst Greg Olsen and CBS talent Nate Burleson as potential fits.

Whether NBC and Fox would let Noah Eagle and Olsen, respectively, call a game for Netflix is unknown, per the Post. CBS, meanwhile, is a third-party affiliate of the streaming service.

Representatives for Netflix and CBS declined to comment, while Fox and NBC were not immediately available for comment, the Post reported.

Netflix, which has never aired an NFL game, is reportedly spending roughly $150 million to air this season’s Christmas doubleheader. The Kansas City Chiefs visit the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens.

–Field Level Media

Aug 24, 2024; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA; Former NFL player Tom Brady attends the match between the FC Cincinnati and the Inter Miami at Chase Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Reports: NFL limits Tom Brady’s TV access due to Raiders role

Becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders could severely impact Tom Brady’s new role as Fox Sports’ lead NFL analyst.

According to reports Wednesday from ESPN and The Athletic, NFL owners discussed at their meetings in Minneapolis restrictions that would be put on the former star quarterback should his bid to buy 10 percent of the Raiders become finalized.

As part of a team’s ownership group, Brady would not be allowed to go to other teams’ facilities, watch practices or be involved in production meetings with other teams’ coaches and players (either in person or virtually).

In addition, he would not be permitted to criticize officials or teams, and he would be subject to the anti-gambling policies that is standard for all NFL personnel.

Brady’s bid to buy into the Raiders must be approved by 24 of the 32 NFL team owners. Brady previously bought a piece of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces — another team controlled by Raiders majority owner Marc Davis.

Brady, 47, finished his stellar NFL career with the 2022 season, then took last year off. He is set to take over as Fox’s top analyst when the season kicks off next week, having signed a reported 10-year, $375 million deal with the network.

The first game in the booth for Brady will the Cleveland Browns’ home contest against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 8.

–Field Level Media

A Big Noon Kickoff logo is seen on a lift as setup continues for the Fox Sports NCAA football Big Noon Kickoff pregame show, Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, on the east side of the Pentacrest on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa.

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Reports: Fox to show college football game every Friday in 2024

Fox will broadcast a Friday college football game every week of the 2024 season, The Athletic and Sports Business Journal reported Thursday.

College football’s TV schedule will not be ironed out until May, but the games eligible for the Friday night treatment will feature teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West conferences.

Once reserved for high schools, Friday night football is not new to the Big Ten, which started putting select games on Friday nights in 2017. The Big Ten Network and Fox Sports 1 (FS1) have carried those games in the past.

Now, games will be carried on Fox each week in the run-up to the network’s “Big Noon Saturday,” its weekly show that competes with ESPN’s “College GameDay” and highlights its best game of the week.

The college football games will fill an empty window after Fox did not renew its agreement for WWE’s “Friday Night Smackdown.”

–Field Level Media

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) is tackled by Philadelphia Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards (57) during the second quarter in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Feb. 12, 2023.

Nfl Super Bowl Lvii Kansas City Chiefs Vs Philadelphia Eagles

Nielsen: 113M watched Super Bowl, No. 3 TV broadcast of all time

Super Bowl LVII earned an average TV audience of 113 million people, Nielsen reported Monday, making it the third most-watched Super Bowl on record and the third most-watched television broadcast of all time.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles came up just shy of the record of 114.4 million viewers, on average, that watched the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015.

Super Bowl LI, the Patriots’ famed 34-28 comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons in February 2017, hit 113.7 million for Fox between network and streaming, making Chiefs-Eagles Fox Sports’ second most-watched broadcast ever.

About 106 million viewers watched Super Bowl LVII on Fox and Fox Deportes, and the other seven million utilized streaming platforms that factored into the total.

It represents a modest bump over last year’s Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, which reported 112.3 million viewers on average.

Rihanna’s halftime show drew an average of 118.7 million viewers, Nielsen said, making it the second most-watched Super Bowl halftime performance on record.

The average of seven million streams made Super Bowl LVII the most-streamed Super Bowl to date, Fox said.

Predictably, Kansas City and Philadelphia were the top two metered markets for the broadcast, followed by Cincinnati, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Final Nielsen data is expected to be released Tuesday.

–Field Level Media

As time almost expires, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer looks on to the clock during the fourth quarter at TIAA Bank Field Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021 in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the San Francisco 49ers during a regular season NFL game. The 49ers defeated the Jaguars 30-10. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

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Urban Meyer returns to Fox’s college football pregame show

After a forgettable 11-month stint in the NFL, former college head coach Urban Meyer is returning to one of his old gigs.

Fox announced Friday that Meyer will be back with the “Big Noon Kickoff” Saturday morning show for the 2022 college football season, joining Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and host Matt Stone.

Meyer appeared on the show in 2019 and 2020 before taking the head coaching post with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jaguars fired Meyer on Dec. 16 after a series of behavioral blunders off the field. After a last-second loss in a “Thursday Night Football” game at the Cincinnati Bengals, Meyer — who is married — didn’t fly back home with the team and was later seen on video with a woman closely dancing on him in a bar in Columbus, Ohio.

Meyer denied reports that he called his coaching staff losers and demanded they “defend” their resumes to him. On Dec. 15, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Meyer kicked former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo in the leg during a pregame stretch in the preseason.

In a report published Dec. 15, Lambo said he responded to Meyer’s kick with “Don’t you ever f–king kick me again!” And his response was, “I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f–k I want.”

The report soon led to Meyer’s firing. The Jaguars were 2-11 at the time.

Before Jacksonville, Meyer was best known as a college head coach who won three national championships, two at Florida (2006, 2008) and Ohio State (2014).

Off-the-field controversies did crop up during his college career, though, the most serious coming in 2018 when it was reported Meyer turned a blind eye to domestic violence allegations against one of his assistant coaches. Ohio State placed Meyer on administrative leave and eventually suspended him for three games.

Meyer cited personal health reasons when he retired from both Florida in 2010 and Ohio State in 2018.

He said on a podcast appearance in April that he planned to return to “Big Noon Kickoff.”

–Field Level Media

Jan 9, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen (88) warms up prior to a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen to lead Fox 2022 NFL team

Play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and analyst Greg Olsen will lead Fox Sports’ top broadcast team for the 2022 NFL season.

Veteran reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, plus rules expert Mike Pereira, will complete the team for Fox, which will televise Super Bowl LVII from Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 12.

The move had been expected but wasn’t announced until Tuesday.

“We’re thrilled to have this team steward our industry-leading and award-winning coverage as we embark on our 29th NFL season, highlighted by our 10th Super Bowl,” Fox Sports executive Brad Zager said Tuesday.

The Fox team will make its regular-season debut on Sept. 11 from Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Vikings will face the Green Bay Packers.

Burkhardt and Olsen, a three-time Pro Bowl selection during his 14-year NFL career, will replace the top Fox broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. They have reunited at ESPN to make up the lead team for “Monday Night Football.”

Burkhardt and Olsen were Fox’s No. 2 broadcast team last season.

Buck and Aikman are coming off 20 seasons calling NFL games for Fox. They will make their “MNF” debut on Sept. 12 when the Denver Broncos face the Seattle Seahawks.

Terms of the Buck-Aikman deal with ESPN were not released. However, the New York Post reported Buck was in line to receive a five-year deal worth between $60 million and $75 million. The Post reported that Aikman received a five-year, $92.5 million contract to jump to ESPN.

Olsen is keeping the seat warm for Tom Brady, who will become Fox Sports’ lead NFL analyst when his playing career ends. Fox did not release terms of his contract, but he has agreed to a 10-year, $375 million deal — the most lucrative in sports broadcasting history — according to the New York Post.

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, will return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd NFL season this year.

–Field Level Media