All Chiefs, Packers exhibition games (with twists) to be televised in St. Louis: Media Views (2024)

Let the games begin.

The NFL exhibition slate swings into full gear this weekend to kick off a stretch of 25 consecutive weekends on which pro football games will be played, and in two weeks, college contests will join the pros (although some college players now are being paid enough to consider them professionals).

Not until Feb. 2-3, the Saturday and Sunday between the NFL conference title games and the Super Bowl, will there be an entire weekend without a football contest of consequence.

St. Louis TV stations again will be on two teams’ networks for exhibition games: the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers.

KMOV (Channel 4) shows the two-time reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs and has two of their three of their practice contests — at 6 p.m. Saturday when they are in Jacksonville, and at 3 p.m. the following Saturday when they entertain Detroit.

Under normal circ*mstances, KMOV also would be showing KC’s exhibition finale, at 7:20 p.m. on Aug. 22 (a Thursday) when Chicago comes to Arrowhead Stadium. But Channel 4 is the local CBS affiliate and is set to air the network’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention that night. So the station will move the football game to Channel 32, a MyNetworkTV station in the portfolio of KMOV owner Gray Media. That outlet has been available over the air (on “free TV”) since early June and also is carried by Spectrum (Charter) cable’s Channel 186.

All three Chiefs exhibitions also will be shown live on NFL Network.

Channel 4 has been airing KC practice contests since 2016 — the season after the Rams left town. Not only have the Chiefs become the class of the league in recent years, appearing in four of the past five Super Bowls and winning three of them, they have become a TV ratings powerhouse in St. Louis. While the August games don’t attract the viewership levels as regular-season contests, KMOV general manager JD Sosnoff said they are a welcome addition to the station’s summer schedule.

“Every year, we see increases in KC Chiefs viewership, from the preseason, regular season and postseason,” he said. “Our Chiefs exclusive preseason relationship offers us exclusive opportunities with the Chiefs.”

All three KC summer contests are set to be replayed on Channel 32 and Spectrum 186 on the Sunday after they are played.

KTVI (Channel 2) is on the Packers network and has their contest at 3:25 p.m. Saturday, when they are in Cleveland, and at noon Aug. 24, also a Saturday, when they entertain Baltimore.

KTVI will move Green Bay’s other exhibition contest, at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 in Denver, to sister station KPLR (Channel 11). That’s because Channel 2 is a Fox affiliate, and that network is showing the New Orleans-San Francisco contest at the same time that Saturday. NFL Network also carries the Packers contest that night.

KPLR formerly was on the Chicago Bears’ summer TV network but dropped off last year.

“The revenue didn’t justify the cost,” Kurt Krueger, general manager of Channels 2 and 11, said then. “It didn’t economically make sense.”

NFL Network kicked off its schedule of 21 live exhibition-game telecasts Thursday night, then continues at 6 p.m. Friday with Houston-Pittsburgh. That’s to be followed by three games Saturday: Chicago-Buffalo at noon, Las Vegas-Minnesota at 3 o’clock and Kansas City-Jacksonville at 6 p.m. NFL Network will carry the version of the telecast of the home team in each of its live telecasts. Outside its live-game schedule, NFLN plans to show all the league’s other exhibition games this summer on tape.

There are only five live practice games set to be carried by networks not owned by the league, one by each of those outlets. ESPN already has had its telecast, the Hall of Fame game last week in which Chicago beat Houston 21-17 in a game that was halted in the third quarter because of lightning.

Remaining games:

Sunday, Aug. 18: New Orleans at San Francisco, 7 p.m., Fox (KTVI, 2)

Thursday, Aug. 22: Indianapolis at Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Prime Video

Sunday, Aug. 25: Arizona at Denver, 3:30 p.m., CBS (KMOV, 4)

Sunday, Aug. 25: New England at Washington, 7 p.m., NBC (KSDK, 5)

The real deal

The St. Louis television schedule for Week 1 of the NFL’s regular season is coming into focus, with many games already set. Here’s the rundown:

Thursday, Sept. 5

7:20 p.m.: Baltimore at Kansas City, KSDK (5)

Friday, Sept. 6

7 p.m.: Green Bay vs. Philadelphia, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Peaco*ck (streaming)

Sunday, Sept. 8

Noon: Game to be determined, KTVI (2)

Noon: Game to be determined, KMOV (4)

3:25 p.m.: Dallas at Cleveland, KTVI (2)

7:20 p.m.: LA Rams at Detroit, KSDK (5)

Monday, Sept. 9

7:15 p.m.: NY Jets at San Francisco, KDNL (30), ESPN