This chart shows you why the NFL is the only thing that matters on TV

Chief Correspondent covering media and technology

The 2026 Super Bowl will be the most-watched TV program of the year. The rest of the NFL will also dominate the ratings charts. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

On TV, there's football, and then there's everything else.

The ratings gap between NFL games and everything else gets bigger and bigger every year.

So at some point, does it make sense for TV programmers to pay for anything that isn't an NFL game?

Do you watch TV?

Then the odds are very, very high that you're watching the NFL.…