The National Football League solidified its dominance over the American sports media landscape with a record-setting start to its 2026 playoffs, while the Vancouver Canucks endured another dismal week, extending their losing streak to nine games.
NFL's Unprecedented Television Dominance
Following a 2025 season where 83 of the most-watched U.S. television shows were NFL games, the league kicked off its postseason with a massive audience. The wildcard weekend, featuring six games, averaged an impressive 32 million viewers, marking a 13 per cent increase from the previous year.
The standout broadcast was FOX's coverage of the San Francisco 49ers' victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. That game attracted an average American audience of 41.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched wildcard contest since 2022. CBS drew 32.8 million viewers for the Buffalo Bills' win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Streaming Enters the Big Leagues
In a sign of the evolving media landscape, Amazon Prime's Saturday night broadcast of the Chicago Bears' comeback against the Green Bay Packers set a new standard. The game was watched by 31.6 million viewers, securing its place as the most-streamed NFL game in history.
This success underscores the NFL's comprehensive media strategy, which now incorporates not only traditional broadcast giants like CBS, NBC, FOX, and ESPN/ABC but also leading streaming services such as Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, YouTube TV, and Netflix.
WNBA Faces Critical Negotiation Period
In contrast to the NFL's booming business, the Women's National Basketball Association is in a state of suspended animation. With the regular season slated to begin in three months, the league has entered a negotiation moratorium with its players' association.
The moratorium, agreed upon to continue talks for a new collective bargaining agreement, has put core league operations on hold. This includes the start of free agency and the expansion draft for the new franchises in Toronto and Portland. Any potential work stoppage would threaten the significant revenue and television growth the WNBA has achieved in recent years.
Vancouver Canucks' Slide Continues
The most painful story in Canadian sports business this week belongs to the Vancouver Canucks. The team has now lost nine consecutive games, firmly planting them at the bottom of the National Hockey League standings.
While the streak fuels the argument for a full-scale rebuild and a chance at top draft prospects like Sweden's Ivar Stenberg or Canadians Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff, it presents immediate challenges. The slump is bad news for broadcast rights holders, season ticket subscribers, team sponsors, and merchandisers, all of whom had high hopes for the franchise just two years ago.
The divergent paths of the NFL's media empire and the struggles of franchises like the Canucks highlight the volatile and high-stakes nature of the modern sports industry.
