There is a rather high bar for the NFL and its domestic broadcasters to improve television ratings this season after a banner 2023 that included across-the-board increases in viewership and an all-time record for Super Bowl LVIII. 

The challenge grows further because of the U.S. presidential election set for November, something historically shown to be a drag on sports ratings.

But CBS Sports still sees a path for additional audience growth in the 2024 season. Speaking Wednesday with reporters to preview its NFL coverage, network executives laid out several factors it will rely on during the upcoming season:

• Growth of the NFL’s overall popularity: During 2023, the NFL represented 93 of the top 100 most-watched broadcasts on U.S. television, across all programming, up from 82 in 2022 and 61 in 2018. In an increasingly fractured society, the NFL is perhaps the closest thing to monocultural programming, with no letup in sight. “This sport—every day, every season, it distances itself, against all forms of media,” said David Berson, CBS Sports president and CEO. “The stars that are being built, the product on the air, the fact that they’re willing to innovate … they’re doing a really good job.”
• All Chiefs, all the time: The two-time defending Super Bowl champions were already a focal point of the 2024 NFL schedule. But CBS Sports will air nearly half of the team’s slate, with a minimum of eight Kansas City games to be shown on its network. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that the Chiefs feature the league’s biggest star, quarterback Patrick Mahomes (above, right), and tight end Travis Kelce, boyfriend of global pop icon Taylor Swift.
• Quarterback star power: While Mahomes will certainly be a point of emphasis, CBS as the primary home of the AFC will regularly air other signal-calling stars in the conference such as the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, the Bills’ Josh Allen (above, left), the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, and the Texans’ C.J. Stroud. The balance of QB power has swung decidedly toward the AFC in recent years.
• Broadcast TV trends: Macro-level media disruption has fueled a sharp rise in over-the-air television as a refuge for cord-cutters and cord-nevers. That trend plays directly into the hands of the NFL and networks such as CBS, which have made broadcast TV a foundation of its coverage for decades.

“The media landscape is complicated, and a lot of entertainment [content] is moving to other platforms,” Berson said. “But sports, you still have to see it live. Every day, sports become more important, and the NFL is far and away the leader in that respect.”

The Slime Is Back

CBS Sports will once again air a kids-oriented NFL game production on Nickelodeon, reviving an effort that began in 2020 and was deployed twice last season, including in Super Bowl LVIII. The next effort will be during one of two wild-card games the network will show in January.

“I don’t know if there’s anything that’s been more innovative in coverage of the NFL in a long time,” Berson said of the alternate broadcasts on Nickelodeon. “This is genuinely bringing in an incremental audience and cultivating the next generation of fans.”

From One QB to Another …

Perhaps the biggest change in NFL coverage this season will be the on-air debut of Fox Sports analyst and NFL icon Tom Brady. CBS Sports’ top NFL analyst, Tony Romo, had strong praise for his counterpart.

“I’m excited for him,” Romo said. “To have one of the greatest players ever, if not the greatest player, do this, it’s only going to be a positive.”

A league commissioner tenure that almost wasn’t has become one of the most impactful in sports history—with large-scale changes still to come.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred (above, right) was elected to his post 10 years ago today, the result of multiple votes in a lengthy and sometimes-fractious owners meeting in Baltimore that required the longtime league employee overcoming a pocket of opposition led in part by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

But a decade later, Manfred has firmly placed his stamp on the game, and he is now perhaps challenging his predecessor and mentor, Bud Selig (above, left), in overall influence. Among Manfred’s key points of impact: 

• Pace of play: Arguably his greatest success, Manfred last year introduced a series of rule changes led by the introduction of a pitch clock, which immediately resulted in a 24-minute reduction in average game times and 9.6% boost in attendance. Those gains have held, and then some, so far this season. 
• Youth participation: Seeing a clear link between playing baseball as a child and lifelong fandom, Manfred made promoting both organized and casual play an immediate focus of his tenure, creating efforts such as the Play Ball program and the MLB Little League Classic. That has helped foster the highest level of baseball participation since 2008, and increases in youth consumption of the sport on platforms such as MLB.TV. 
• International play: Under Manfred, MLB and the MLB Players Association have created the MLB World Tour, a multiyear global effort that will bring games to Latin America, Asia, and the U.K. Continental Europe remains a thorny challenge for MLB, but the league’s efforts around the world mirror the accelerating globalization by other major U.S. sports leagues. 
• Labor: A bruising 99-day lockout before the 2022 season represented the sport’s longest work stoppage since the 1994–1995 strike that wiped out a World Series. The MLB-MLBPA relationship remains a complex matter, and economic imbalance between clubs is still a serious concern. But the resulting labor deal created many meaningful changes, including player compensation boosts, a new draft lottery, an expanded postseason, and a universal designated hitter.
• Minor leagues: One of Manfred’s more controversial moves has been a large-scale overhaul of the affiliated minor leagues, which was completed in early 2021 and included a reduction of teams from 160 to 120 and imposed much more stringent facility requirements on the remaining clubs. But the moves have elevated the standards of play and helped shorten the window for some draftees to reach the major leagues and increase the stature of MLB prospects. 

The Final Stretch

In July 2023, Manfred signed a four-year contract extension that he says will be last, setting up an end to his tenure in January 2029. 

In his remaining time, he will grapple with many pressing issues, including a reformation of the sport’s local media model, proposed new stadiums for the Rays and A’s, potential expansion, and another round of labor negotiations with the MLBPA.