It was fitting that the NFL dropped the “Super” from “Wild Card Weekend.” The final audience numbers were less than super.
Via the Associated Press, the six games played from Saturday to Monday night averaged 28.3 million per game. That’s a 9.3-percent drop from last year’s 31.2 million average.
It didn’t help that five of the games weren’t close. The absence of significant drawing cards like the Cowboys, Chiefs/Taylor Swift, and Lions hurt the final numbers, too.
The regular-season games averaged 17.5 million, a 2.2-percent decline from 2023.
The next test comes on Saturday and Sunday. Last year’s divisional round drew 40 million viewers on average for the four games, an all-time high. The return of the Chiefs and Lions to the mix will help, and Sunday night’s Ravens-Bills game features a showdown between the top two 2024 MVP candidates, quarterbacks Lamar Jackson (the likely winner) and Josh Allen.