The TV ratings are in. Kansas City, New Orleans markets love watching their teams
The Chiefs are a slight favorite over the Saints in Sunday’s game at New Orleans. What won’t be close are the television ratings of the game in both teams’ markets compared to the next most-watched event for the week.
In addition to having two of the NFL’s best teams this season, Kansas City and New Orleans traditionally have the most tuned-in fans. Chiefs and Saints games regularly ranking among the highest rated and get a big boost from their own markets, small as they are by NFL standards.
Through Week 14, the markets rank 1-2 in watching their teams play, according to the NFL.
Chiefs games have averaged a 47.0 rating in Kansas City, and Saints games a 42.6 in New Orleans. Rounding out the top five: Bills 40.7 in Buffalo; Steelers 40.0 in Pittsburgh and Packers 38.4 in Milwaukee.
Kansas City is the nation’s 32nd largest market with about 900,000 TV households, according to Nielsen. New Orleans is No. 50 at 615,000.
The United States has 210 TV markets and 107 million TV homes. But Kansas City and New Orleans can have an influence. Two years ago, the overnight ratings for the Patriots-Rams Super Bowl hit a 10-year low. One of the reasons was ratings plummeted in markets where teams bitterly lost conference championship games, New Orleans and Kansas City.
Viewers should keep an eye on these players, besides the quarterbacks, in Sunday’s game:
Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Much will be made of Edwards-Helaire return to his home state, but two other Chiefs — safety Tyrann Mathieu and running back Darrel Williams — also went to LSU. Also, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed played at Louisiana Tech and corner BoPete Keyes played at Tulane. Edwards-Helaire was over 100 combined rushing and receiving yards against the Dolphins until he lost 11 yards on his final two rushing attempts.
Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay Jr.
Will his snap count increase this week? The Chiefs seem to be bringing him along slowly and veteran Ben Niemann played a season-high 75 snaps last week in Damien Wilson’s absence. But the Saints have one of the best NFL running backs who catches passes in Alvin Kamara, who leads the team with 77 receptions. Seems like a good opportunity to employ Gay’s speed in this matchup.
Saints wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders
Old rival alert. Sanders has 48 receptions and three touchdowns in his career against the Chiefs, mostly playing for the Broncos. He had two touchdowns in the last Denver victory against the Chiefs, in 2015. Sanders’ 44 receptions are tops among Saints wide receivers this year. He also caught three passes against the Chiefs playing for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins
The 12-year veteran continues to produce. Jenkins, who after six seasons in Philadelphia signed a four-year, $32 million deal with his original team, has two interceptions and two sacks this season. Last week he recovered a Jalen Hurts fumble that set up a touchdown. He’ll be tasked with slowing down the Chiefs’ talented receivers.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.