Now that the Chiefs have won Super Bowl LVIII, a significant part of the NFL focus turns to 2024 schedule watching. 

In the spring the league is slated to release its schedule for next season, in keeping with its normal practice. Kansas City is set to host the season-opening game Sept. 5, continuing the NFL’s tradition of the defending Super Bowl champion having a prime-time home game on a Thursday night to start the new season. 

By terms of the NFL’s long-established schedule formula, the Chiefs’ opponents for their 2024 games have already been determined, and the away team for that high-profile season opener at Arrowhead Stadium will be one of these eight possibilities: 

• Baltimore Ravens
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Denver Broncos
• Houston Texans
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Los Angeles Chargers
• New Orleans Saints
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

The NFL typically hasn’t used the season opener for a game within a single division, and instead has shown a preference for a marquee interdivision or interconference matchup in that slot on NBC Sports, such as how the 2023 season started with the Lions at the Chiefs, the ’22 season kicked off with the Bills visiting the Rams, and the ’21 season began with the Cowboys playing at the Buccaneers. 

As a result, two opponents in particular emerge as the most likely scenarios for the 2024 season opener in Kansas City: the Ravens and Bengals. The Ravens-Chiefs game will be a rematch of the recent AFC championship game won by Kansas City, while the Bengals are looking to rebound after the season-ending injury to Joe Burrow during Week 11 in ’23. And there is arguably no better stage for the star quarterback’s comeback tour than the facility that Bengals teammate Mike Hilton once called “Burrowhead Stadium.”

The Texans also loom as a possibility, given their dramatic rise in 2023 from years of mediocrity—thanks partly to phenom C.J. Stroud—to the divisional round of the playoffs. If the NFL does change course and tap an AFC West divisional opponent for the Chiefs’ opener, it would almost certainly be the Chargers and new head coach Jim Harbaugh. 

Meanwhile the Chiefs are scheduled to play the 49ers in 2024, a Super Bowl LVIII rematch that promises to be one of the most-anticipated games next season. But that will be a home game for San Francisco. The ’24 NFL opener will also start an expanded slate of Week 1 prime-time games.

The most notable free agent for the Super Bowl LVIII champion Chiefs isn’t any player but instead head coach Andy Reid. And he isn’t even really a free agent. 

Now a three-time Super Bowl winner and an NFL head coach since 1999, Reid is entering the fifth year of a six-year contract signed after the Chiefs’ LIV win in early 2020. Reportedly paying about $12 million per year, Reid’s contract is increasingly out of step with current NFL trends, particularly as the Chargers recently hired Jim Harbaugh, who is slated to earn $16 million per year. 

Elsewhere in the AFC West, Broncos coach Sean Payton also is paid more than Reid, with an annual salary of about $18 million, and other NFL coaches reportedly earning more than Reid include the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin ($12.5 million) and the Rams’ Sean McVay ($14 million).

Set to turn 66 next month, Reid had been the subject of growing retirement rumors. But following Sunday night’s game, Reid said he intended to return in pursuit of a three-peat that has never been achieved in the NFL’s Super Bowl era. 

“Yeah—I haven’t had time to think about it, but yeah, yeah,” Reid said when asked about his return for the 2024 season. (Reid confirmed on Monday: He’ll be back.)

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt reiterated the sentiment, telling the NFL Network that “I expect Andy to be back next year as we go for the three-peat.”

That return, however, will likely result in a contract extension or renegotiation as Reid has placed himself in a highly elite group of coaches in NFL history. Now, with three Super Bowl wins, Reid joins only Bill Belichick, Joe Gibbs, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh with at least that many.

A pay bump will increasingly be in Kansas City’s financial wherewithal, as the franchise is set for an additional elevation in value with the latest Super Bowl win. It is also poised for further increases in key local revenue lines such as tickets, sponsorships, and merchandise. The Chiefs’ star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is already locked in to the richest player contract in NFL history. 

Despite putting on a thrilling Super Bowl halftime performance full of dazzling dance moves, roller skates, and special guests last night, Usher didn’t get paid by the NFL. The league covers expensive production costs, but it doesn’t pay the main act.

The biggest TV draw of the year attracts singers for another reason: exposure. Album sales tend to skyrocket after an artist plays the Super Bowl. But how much money does that exposure generate?

Usher earned an estimated equivalent of $52,479,822 in exposure while performing (and appearing in a related pregame sit-down interview on CBS) on Sunday, Apex Marketing Group tells Front Office Sports. Those are the same folks who calculated last month that Taylor Swift had generated an equivalent of $331.5 million for the NFL and the Chiefs this season.

Apex calculated the figure based on Usher’s reach across platforms between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET Sunday. The buildup to the game—since Usher announced his performance Sept. 24—undoubtedly brought the singer even more attention.

The high-profile marketing stunt coincides with the release of Usher’s latest album, Coming Home, his first since 2018, and the announcement this morning of new tour dates.