Cris Collinsworth Says NBC Would Love To Have Every Dallas Cowboys Game On 'Sunday Night Football'

Published|Updated

The Dallas Cowboys are, arguably, the biggest draw in all of professional sports. Sunday Night Football is the most-watched TV program in America. According to NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth, the network would be happy to combine the two for the entire NFL season.

Collinsworth appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and talked about how TV network views the opportunity to broadcast the Dallas Cowboys.

"If NBC had their choice, we would do 17 Dallas Cowboys games," Collinsworth said. "I'm not kidding. It doesn't even matter what their record is ... they draw the ratings."

To Collinsworth's point, four of the five most-watched NFL regular season games last season featured -- wait for it -- the Dallas Cowboys.

Now, those numbers are slightly skewed because the top two games were played on Thanksgiving, which is a very big day for NFL viewership. However, 10 million more people watched the Cowboys and Giants than they did the Bills and Lions.

The other games just show that Dallas dominated the non-Thanksgiving slate.

As far as NBC is concerned, Sunday Night Football is the most consistent draw during the NFL's regular season, averaging over 18 million viewers per week. It outdraws both Thursday Night Football (9.5 million) and Monday Night Football (10.1 million). Generally, the matchups play a large role in that. Also, NBC is a broadcast network and not a cable channel or a streaming network.

But the data is clear: networks want the Dallas Cowboys. Period.

Cris Collinsworth says NBC would take the Dallas Cowboys for all 17 weeks of Sunday Night Football if the NFL allowed it.

Cris Collinsworth says NBC would take the Dallas Cowboys for all 17 weeks of Sunday Night Football if the NFL allowed it. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

Get ready to see the Dallas Cowboys A LOT in primetime, including multiple Sunday Night Football appearances

Their schedule reflects that, too. The NFL ear-marked just two of the Cowboys currently-scheduled 16 games (Week 18 games are TBD for all teams) for the Sunday early-afternoon window.

Seven of their games are set for the late-afternoon window, where viewership is higher because there are fewer games.

That leaves the last seven games to be played in the "island" scenario. That's where there's only one NFL game being played (i.e. Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, etc.).

Cris Collinsworth and NBC don't have to wait to get their first taste of Cowboys football this season, either. In a rematch of last year's most-watched NFL regular season game, the Cowboys and Giants square-off in Week 1 on Sunday Night Football.

That's one of three appearances for Dallas on Sunday night (49ers, Week 5 and Eagles, Week 14). They also play twice on Thursday: once in their traditional Thanksgiving slot during Week 12 against the Commanders and then the following week on Thursday Night Football vs. the Seahawks.

Additionally, they play once on Monday Night Football (Week 6 against the Chargers). Plus, they have a Saturday night game in Week 17 against the Lions.

So, if you don't like watching the Dallas Cowboys, this is not the NFL season for you.

Tags
Written by

Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.