Why FOX NFL Sunday Is Making A Rare Road Trip For Eagles Vs. Chiefs

Only 11 times in NFL history have the teams from the previous year’s Super Bowl faced off in a rematch in the ensuing regular season. And Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs is only the fourth to occur within the first two weeks of the season.

To maximize this momentous rematch, FOX NFL Sunday, the pregame show preceding that contest, is making a rare road trip.

It will broadcast live from Kansas City, Mo.

“We thought this was a no-brainer,” Bill Richards, executive producer of FOX NFL Sunday, exclusively shared. “We wanted to treat this as a huge event.”

The top-rated show always goes on the road for the NFC Championship Game and when FOX has the Super Bowl, but aside from an annual trip to commemorate Veterans Day, it has only done so only a handful of times in its 32 years broadcasting the NFL.

And if Eagles-Chiefs was being played in Week 10, for example, FOX might not have done a remote show because it’s possible at least one of the teams could have been decimated by injuries or is no longer playing at a Super Bowl level.

Plus, the timing of a Week Two game gave FOX a whole summer to plan.

It’s such a big game that the network decided to devote another hour to FOX NFL Sunday. The pregame show will start at 11 a.m. EST instead of 12 p.m. EST.

Making the event even more unique is the setting at KC Live! That one-block, outdoor entertainment district on the east side of the Power & Light District of downtown Kansas City had six million visitors last year.

“It was almost custom made for something like this,” said Rod Conti, FOX Sports’ senior vice president of studio remote operations. “Power & Light has presently been one of the most perfect fits for a show like this.”

Super Bowl Inspiration

The last time the Eagles and Chiefs faced off, FOX preceded that Super Bowl LIX by having FOX NFL Sunday broadcast live from Bourbon Street.

It was the first time a pregame show ever broadcasted from that famous street in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, and FOX NFL Sunday spent the first two-and-a-half hours of its five-and-a-half pregame show there.

The studio crew interacted with fans and ran football plays on a set-up field, live music played, and Gordon Ramsay made po’ boys.

FOX wanted to recreate that energy with another remote, extended version of FOX NFL Sunday before Sunday’s Eagles-Chiefs game.

“After that adventure,” Conti said, “we’re primed and ready to go for this.”

Attendance and Ratings

Building of the set for Sunday’s show was slated to start by Monday morning and be camera ready by Friday — two days before they go live — and requires a couple hundred grounds people, set builders, technicians and 24/7 security staff.

“There’s a lot of moving parts,” Richards said. “It’s a fun challenge.”

Power & Light is used to large events. KC Live! hosts watch parties for every Chiefs game, and district executives are anticipating around 4,000 to be in attendance for FOX NFL Sunday’s broadcast.

“Big moments happen here,” John Moncke, president of the Kansas City Power & Light District, said via email. “The infrastructure is solid, the experience is proven and the energy speaks for itself.”

Energy and excitement should be coursing through downtown Kansas City this weekend because it’s a hub of sports media activity. First Things First, a daily sports talk show on FS1, will also broadcast from KC Live! from 3-6 p.m. EST on Friday, and New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce podcast will host a tailgate activation, starting at 10 a.m. EST Sunday at Walnut Street, which surrounds KC Live!

After their show at KC Live! concludes at 1 p.m. EST, the FOX NFL Sunday cast of Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jay Glazer and Rob Gronkowski will reconvene at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for the halftime show.

Studio analyst Jimmy Johnson, the Super Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboys head coach, retired from broadcasting after the 2024 season, but FOX NFL Sunday remained a ratings behemoth for Week One of 2025 with 4,595,000 viewers, putting it on pace to be the No. 1 NFL pregame show for a 32nd consecutive season.

That streak dates back to when FOX originally aired the NFL after purchasing its rights for a total of $1.58 billion in December of 1993.

Under the current NFL media agreement, FOX pays about $2.2 billion annually through the 2033 season.

Whether or not FOX takes more of its regular-season pregame shows on the road in those future seasons, the opportunity to do so this Sunday was just too good to pass up.

“The combination of Kansas City — sort of like America’s Team these days to some degree — and a Super Bowl matchup in a city like Kansas City,” Conti said, “is very enticing.”