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The actual on-field product across the National Football League has declined in 2024, thanks to defensive dominance, poor quarterback play, and the usual run of injuries. But the league’s popularity on television continues to soar, thanks in large part to audiences that don’t actually care that much about the product they’re watching.

Joe Pompliano posted on X about television ratings for the slate of NFL games on Thanksgiving Day, and they were, as he described, “completely insane.”

The 34.2 million average viewers per game, 37.5 million for the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears and 38.8 million viewers for the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Those numbers represent the largest Thanksgiving Day audience ever for the NFL’s games. 

Even the late game, between the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, pulled in 26.6 million viewers. The NFL is unstoppable, and it has sports betting to thank.

NFL Thanksgiving Day

Nov 28, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) passes the ball against the Detroit Lions during the first half at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images

NFL Relying On Sports Betting To Generate Interest

The Lions-Bears game was generally awful; the first half saw Chicago generate roughly 50 yards of offense. The Giants-Cowboys game was quarterbacked by Drew Lock and Cooper Rush. It was even uglier than it sounds, with less than 400 combined passing yards, just one passing touchdown and an interception.

None of the Thanksgiving Day games represented the best the NFL has to offer. But it doesn’t matter, because people watch what they’re betting on.

Gambling on football has become a tradition for millions of Americans sitting at home all day on holidays eating and watching television. The NFL has benefited from that phenomenon, even as difficult as it is to win money on prop bets or beating the Vegas odds. 

If fans have money on something, they watch. And the NFL is the perfect vessel for putting money on sports. This is where baseball falls short; there’s too many games, spread out over too many days, and neither Memorial Day or July 4 have the kind of importance and “sit at home” universality that Thanksgiving has.

It’s a testament to the power of sports betting in modern society that 10s of millions of people are more than happy to tune in to some of the ugliest football we’ve ever seen.