Bengals-Rams Super Bowl is ideal game for Best Buy TV sales —

The Kansas City Chiefs have the biggest star in quarterback Patrick Mahomes. But the Cincinnati Bengals would be the better AFC team for the 2022 Super Bowl among the remaining National Football League playoff teams, at least for Best Buy.

Loop Capital Markets, in a note to clients this week, tried to determine which Super Bowl LVI matchup would drive the most sales of new TVs and home theaters at the retailer. It concluded a Cincinnati Bengals versus Los Angeles Rams matchup would benefit the retailer most.

Loop Capital used “metropolitan statistical area” metrics to assist in determining the population size of a city and surrounding counties. The MSA for Cincinnati and Los Angeles is 15.5 million, combined. The clubs’ combined 36 years since they last appeared in a Super Bowl – 33 of those years belonging to the Bengals’ absence – would also favor potential sales, Loop said.

The firm determined a Chiefs-49ers contest “would be the least desirable outcome” for Best Buy, given there’s only been a combined three years since the last Super Bowl appearance of the teams, and the smaller combined local fan populations.

The NFL is coming off one of its most-watched playoff weekends after the Chiefs’ thrilling win over the Buffalo Bills. The game averaged 42.7 million viewers and peaked at more than 51 million people who watched Mahomes lead the Chiefs to a 42-36 victory.

The Chiefs star led a drive with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 36. He also threw the game-winning touchdown in overtime to advance the team to its fourth consecutive AFC championship. CBS Sports’ telecast was the most-watched divisional postseason game on any network since 2017.

Last Saturday, the network also aired the Bengals playoff win over the top-seeded Tennessee Titans. That game averaged 30.7 million viewers and peaked at 38.3 million.

The team won its first playoff game in 31 years after beating the Las Vegas Raiders in the wild card contest on Jan. 15. Despite appearing in the Super Bowl twice (1981 and 1988 seasons), the Bengals have never won an NFL championship.