Will Super Bowl Viewership Decline Due to the Rematch of Super Bowl 57?
The most talented roster in the NFL in the NFC, and a potential three-peat for the AFC, and for some reason, it seems like this is the Super Bowl nobody wanted. When people talked about the games on last week's Championship Sunday, countless sources described how a Bills Commander’s Super Bowl would be the best option and have now constantly complained about both teams’ victories and the matchup we will see on February 9th. The last matchup between these two teams in the Super Bowl ended with a 38-35 Chiefs victory, ending with a controversial holding Call on James Bradbury that gave the Chiefs a chance to kneel it out and an eventual win with a Harrison Butker field goal with eight seconds left. While the last matchup was arguably the most exciting Super Bowl, Eagles fans probably still remember it just for that call.
When it comes to the Chiefs, it’s more obvious: people hate teams that win as much as they do. Ask anyone besides Patriots fans, and they will tell you how much they despised Tom Brady and his team when they went on their almost 20-year run. The Chiefs not only have a chance to be the only team ever to three-peat, but their quarterback Patrick Mahomes, has the chance to be in elite company as maybe the best start to a career in the NFL ever. Just like the Patriots, though, the media will always try to dissuade a team, and for the Chiefs, it’s been the refs for almost two years now. While there were undoubtedly some controversial calls in the Bills vs Chiefs matchup last Sunday, Patrick Mahomes has always won those games and proved it again. Even with the calls, Josh Allen still had a chance with three minutes left and failed to get more than one first down before a surprise safety blitz from Steve Spagnulo ended the game. Are the Chiefs fun to watch, sure, but people don’t like a team that wins too much like Kansas City does.
The Eagles are a bit of a different story on their side of why NFL fans dislike them. It’s not their players, as stars like Saquon Barkley have become one of the most likable players in the NFL, especially with a chance he has to finally compete at the highest level. Other team operations, such as the security official known as Big Dom, also have played a role in making the team likable, but their fans won’t make it an easy root. For years, Philly fans, while passionate, have been known as maybe the most annoying and rude fanbase in the NFL. As opposed to Bills fans, who are liked for their craziness with jumping in snow and being fanatics, Eagles fans are more known for throwing the snow at people and other acts that are just unpopular. Just last week, fans went on to steal multiple hats off Commanders fans, and even a situation where another fan had to step in due to a Birds fan shouting slurs at a woman. All fans in Philly are passionate, but it gets to a point where NFL fans don’t even want to root for the team anymore.
The Eagles and Chiefs have countless stars that are popular with Barkley, Jalen Hurts, Cooper DeJean, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce, and yet because of the refs, fans, and Taylor Swift, fans would rather anything happen than see these teams win a Lombardi. Now, will the Super Bowl ratings go down, honestly probably not. The Chiefs are hated throughout most of the NFL, and still, their game with the Bills managed to have the most viewership for the game eve,r with an average of 57.4 million viewers. The last time these two teams matched up in the Super Bowl, their ratings finished as the third most watched version of the game ever when it came to the main broadcast, with a viewership of around 114.21 million. There are too many stars in this game for the game to be a bust in terms of ratings, but it will get to a point where even the biggest haters of both teams will watch due to the quality of football. All we can hope as fans is that it isn’t fixed or ends in referee controversy. The game between the two powerhouses will take place on February 9th, 2025, at 7:30 pm EST.
