Love or hate the Kansas City Chiefs, they remain preposterously compelling television.
The Chiefs' 32–29 win over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's AFC championship drew an audience of 57.4 million viewers, Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday morning.
That is the largest audience in the history of the AFC championship, and the largest audience for either conference championship since 57.6 million watched the New York Giants' 20–17 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers after the 2011 season.
Though it has been one-sided in the playoffs, the Chiefs and Bills have forged one of the best sports rivalries of the 2020s—meeting in four of the last five postseasons. The intrigue surrounding their always-close games, plus public interest in Kansas City's bid for a Super Bowl three-peat and musician Taylor Swift's relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, likely combined to drive record ratings.
Ironically, the Philadelphia Eagles' 55–23 NFC championship win over the Washington Commanders was the least-watched NFC championship since the 2018 season, drawing "only" 44.1 million viewers.
Kansas City—gunning for the Super Bowl era's first three-peat, the NFL's first three-peat since the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s, and major North American men's sports' first three-peat since the Los Angeles Lakers of 2000 to '02—will play the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bills-Chiefs Smashes AFC Championship Ratings Record With Monster TV Audience.
