Lions Beating Chiefs Puts Up Monster TV Ratings, Crushes NBA Finals

Dan Campbell and the Lions upsetting the Chiefs to get the NFL season started put up massive ratings.

Detroit marched into Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night and stole a 21-20 victory from Patrick Mahomes and company, and did it with a large chunk of the country watching.

The game averaged 26.8 million viewers across NBC platforms and NFL Digital platforms, according to a release from NBC Sports. That's a 24% boost from the 2022 opener between the Bills and Rams, which averaged 21.7 million viewers.

The game peaked with an incredible 29.1 million viewers. To put it as simply as possible, the game put up huge ratings and it's further proof people love football.

Lions/Chiefs game gets massive TV ratings.

People love football. There's no other way to say it. The NFL is king. For comparison, the 2022-23 NBA Finals between the Heat and Nuggets averaged 11.6 million viewers.

That's not even half of the audience that watched Jared Goff and the Lions go to work Thursday night on the road against the Chiefs.

The NFL's opener between the Chiefs and Lions put up monster TV ratings. The game averaged nearly 27 million viewers and crushed other major events. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Georgia destroying TCU in the national title game in January averaged 17.22 million viewers. The NFL opener averaged 9.58 million viewers more than the biggest college football game of last season.

You can say a lot of things about Roger Goodell, but the one thing you can't say is that he hasn't created a product people want to consume.

The Lions beat the Chiefs to open the NFL season. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

NFL ratings are off to an insanely hot start through one game, and if this continues, the league could be in for a monster year. Averaging 26.8 million viewers for the first game of the season is nothing short of a huge success, especially when compared to other major events.