Chiefs’ game Sunday will have KC’s smallest TV footprint since the 2009 season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs-Raiders Sunday will draw the smallest local TV audience since 2009.
- Broadcast limits follow Mahomes absence and multiple key injuries affecting interest.
- KC viewers get alternative national and regional games as Chiefs feed blacked out.
When the Chiefs face the Raiders, there usually is a lot of talk about Patrick Mahomes and Maxx Crosby leading up to the game.
But with Mahomes out after having knee surgery and Crosby on injured reserve (yet playing basketball and on a trampoline), the focus Sunday will be on the quarterbacks.
It’ll be the Chiefs’ Chris Oladokun against the Raiders’ Kenny Pickett and Aidan O’Connell. An improved draft position for the loser might trump actually winning the game, in terms of fan interest.
That explains why the Chiefs’ game in Las Vegas, which kicks off at 3:25 p.m. CT and airs on CBS (KCTV-5), will be seen by the smallest television audience in more than a decade.
Since Andy Reid became the Chiefs’ head coach, they have made the postseason or been in playoff contention each year in the final month of the season. Until this year, that is.
That’s why the Chargers-Broncos matchup is the featured late-afternoon game on CBS, while Chiefs-Raiders won’t even be seen in all of Kansas and Missouri.
Here is the TV map, courtesy of 506Sports.com:
Chris Lewis and Kyle Long will call the game for CBS with Tiffany Blackmon serving as the sideline reporter.
J.P. Kirby of 506Sports told The Star the Chiefs game will be seen by just 3% of the population in the United States. Kirby said the last Chiefs game that was viewed by a mere 3% of the country was in Week 15 of the 2009 season.
The Chiefs played at home that day against the Browns, and the game was blacked out in Kansas City because there wasn’t a sell-out at Arrowhead Stadium. An old NFL rule required games that didn’t sell out in a home market to be kept off the air there.
The Chiefs lost 41-34 that day as Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison rushed for 286 yards and three touchdowns.
Kirby’s data dates to 2007, and he couldn’t find a smaller TV audience for a Chiefs game.
Other games in KC
Football fans in Kansas City will have a plethora of games to view.
The Colts-Texans game, which starts at noon on Sunday, will air on KCTV-5. On WDAF-TV (Ch. 4), there will be a Sunday doubleheader: Cowboys-Giants at noon, followed by the Bears-Lions contest.
The “Sunday Night Football” contest between the Steelers and Ravens will air on KSHB-TV (Ch. 41).
Viewers in KC also will be able to watch Saturday’s doubleheader on KMBC (Ch. 9): Panthers-Buccaneers at 3:30 p.m., followed by Seahawks-49ers.
This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 11:45 AM.
