NFC Championship: Could Packers vs Buccaneers be the Most Watched Non Super Bowl Game Ever?

Published 01/23/2021, 7:12 PM EST

The 2020 NFL season has been filled with all sorts of chaos. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented fans from attending games for the major part of the season.

Of course, in accordance with government policies in America, a small portion of fans are now being permitted into stadiums as we approach the highly anticipated Super Bowl LV.

But this weekend, we will see the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers face-off in the NFC Championship Game.

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NFL fans across the globe will be eagerly waiting to watch two of the oldest quarterbacks in the league, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, battle it out for ultimate glory.

But there’s another aspect to this game that will please league commissioner Roger Goodell and other officials.

Tom Brady All Fired-Up for ‘Big Test’ Against Aaron Rodgers and Co.

NFC Championship game could rake in record-level viewership ratings

The four-game NFL Divisional Round average viewership:
2021: around 31 million
2020: 33.2 million
2019: 32.4 million
2018: 30.5 million
No dramatic fall here. Decline for this round would be in line with the 7% drop seen during regular season.
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) January 20, 2021

The overall viewership ratings are on a 7% decline since the season began in September due to various external factors. That same trend was seen during this year’s Divisional Round Playoffs.

But fans are expected to tune-in by huge numbers on Sunday to watch the Packers vs Buccaneers go head-to-head at the frozen tundra in Wisconsin.

The New Orleans Saints vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Divisional Round Playoff game was the most-viewed matchup last weekend. A total of 35.5m viewers tuned in to watch the Bucs defeat the NFC South Champions by a 20-30 scoreline.

However, league officials estimate that this weekend’s game at the Lambeau Field could rake in a larger number.

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As per Sportico reports, FOX Network’s minimum bid for a 30-second in-game spot for Sunday’s NFC Championship game jumped from an initial unit cost of $1.75 million to more than $2 million after the Bucs won.

The most-watched NFL game this season was the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day fixture. 30.3 million viewers tuned in on FOX to watch the Washington Football Team’s 41-16 win over ‘America’s Team’.

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But Sunday’s NFC Championship tie could break that record and become the most-watched non-Super Bowl game of all time. Rodgers and Brady are two of the biggest names in the game at the moment. Let’s hope the hype is worth the wait.

Throwback to When the Packers and Buccaneers Met for the First Time in the NFL Playoffs

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Written by:

Daniel Arambur is an NFL writer and content strategist for EssentiallySports.With more than 1,000 articles, he is one of the senior writers in the NFL cohort at ES. A mass media graduate from the University of Mumbai, Daniel has found the perfect blend of vocation and passion in the sports content niche.

NFC Championship: Could Packers vs Buccaneers be the Most Watched Non Super Bowl Game Ever?

NFC Championship game could rake in record-level viewership ratings

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