Why Bills vs. Chiefs matchup will land on Sunday Night Football

It actually hasn't happened either of the last two years.

As opposed to unfolding in standalone primetime windows, the regular season meetings between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs kicked off at 4:25 pm ET on CBS in 2022 and 2023.

When it comes to the 2024 edition of that AFC rivalry, Bills' fans could find themselves waiting all day for a Sunday night. It's my best guess that the Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes showdown will wind up on Sunday Night Football, which has become known as the prime slot of the week.

It seems to meet every expectation for scheduling a primetime affair.

"What do we have to do to make you sit there and watch it for three hours? We gotta make it compelling. We gotta get the big storyline games into the biggest windows, so the fans are gonna get a chance to see the games they wanna see," said said NFL VP for broadcasting Mike North during an appearance on the Its Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast hosted by Sal Capaccio.

First, there are the star quarterbacks who are similar in age and aptitude as the NFL tries to find the next Brady-Manning parallel. There's the playoff revenge factor with Kansas City having eliminated Buffalo on its way to the Super Bowl LVIII crown.

It's a naturally attractive matchup, and the odds for a competitive game are high, too — the Bills have won the last three regular season meetings while the Chiefs have posted head-to-head postseason victories in three of the past four years.

"When Tom Brady was at the Patriots and Peyton Manning was at the Colts and the Colts and the Patriots played each other every year, we sort of had like a little bit of a rotation. It was on Sunday night one year, CBS the next, Sunday night one year, CBS the next. All that's out the window now. Every game's a jump ball. Nobody protects anything in April and May," said North.

Whether or not the Bills and Chiefs land on SNF is to be determined, but one thing is certain — the game won't be tabbed for a 1 o'clock eastern time kickoff.

"If we took that Buffalo-Kansas City game and we put it on CBS at 1 o'clock eastern, in a window with eight other NFL games, and that game might only be available, then, in 28, 29, 30 percent of the country, that's not the best use of that asset," said North. "That game belongs to our fans. We're not doing our jobs if we're putting it in a place where as many fans as possible can't see it."

The official time slot will be known when the NFL unveils its 2024 schedule at some point this month. May 9 has been reported as a rumored release date, but it wouldn't be shocking if the league took another week and waits until til May 16.

"Our target is always kinda that second week in May. You gotta leave just a little bit of room, just in case something happens in the draft that we want to react to and maybe adjust," said North on the podcast that be some available on April 22. "Somewhere in the May 10, 12, 15 [date range]."