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Plus: NFL’s secret plan to boost viewership…
Good afternoon. The top sports stories of the day are at your fingertips. Let’s get right to it.
—Kyle
1) NFL shatters regular-season viewership record
A whopping 57.2M viewers tuned into CBS for the Chiefs-Cowboys afternoon contest on Thanksgiving Day, according to The Athletic ($), shattering the previous all-time mark for an NFL regular-season game (42.1M for Cowboys v. Giants in 2022).
- The new record was reportedly planned ahead of time by the NFL, who made a strategic decision to have its two most-watched teams play each other on the most-watched day of regular-season action.
- The Packers-Lions contest earlier in the day reportedly averaged 47.7 million viewers on Fox and Tubi, marking the second most-watched regular-season contest in NFL history.
Explore the eye-popping new record
2) CFB championship weekend kicks off tomorrow
Six conference championship games this weekend feature top-25 ranked teams, with each holding potential College Football Playoff implications.
- Friday will see Group of Five CFP hopefuls line up, with #25 James Madison v. Troy (6 pm CT) and #20 Tulane v. #24 North Texas (7 pm CT).
- On Saturday, major conferences take the stage: #4 Texas Tech v. #11 BYU kicks off at 11 am CT; #3 Georgia v. #9 Alabama starts at 3 pm; and both #1 Ohio State v. #2 Indiana and #17 Virginia v. Duke begin at 7 pm.
3) F1 season comes down to one final race on Sunday
The Formula One World Drivers’ Championship will be decided at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, with McLaren’s Lando Norris (408 points), Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (396 points), and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri (392 points) all in contention.
- For Verstappen to earn his fifth consecutive F1 title, he has to win on Sunday and have Norris place outside the top-three.
- That may seem like a tall task—but Verstappen has already overcome worse odds to get to this point, having previously trailed the leader by 104 points back in August.
Dive into the biggest F1 race of 2025
4) Giannis reportedly in talks to be traded from Milwaukee
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and his agent are in talks with team officials about the two-time MVP’s future, either with Milwaukee or on another team, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
- The Bucks (10-13) have lost eight of their past 10 games, and currently sit in 10th place in the East.
- Antetokounmpo, who will turn 31 this week, is averaging 30.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 6.4 assists on 64% shooting, good enough to place #4 in early MVP rankings.
5) Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge tees off this morning
The exclusive 20-man tournament, hosted in the Bahamas by Tiger Woods, invites the top-17 players in the world, based on availability, along with three exemptions selected by Woods himself.
- This year’s Hero World Challenge features four of the top-10 and 14 of the top-30 players in the world.
- The list includes 2x defending champion and world #1 Scottie Scheffler, who’s looking to become just the second player—after Woods—to win the tournament more than twice.
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