Jimmy Fallon is getting four more shots at television’s most valuable lead-in, with NBC scheduling four special Sunday editions of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to follow Sunday Night Football this season.
The first is set for September 27, following the Los Angeles Rams–Denver Broncos matchup. Sylvester Stallone and Luke Bryan are among the guests scheduled to join Fallon that night, with additional names still to be announced.
Three more Sunday editions are scheduled for November 8, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers–Chicago Bears game; November 15, following the Pittsburgh Steelers–Cincinnati Bengals game; and January 10, after the NFL’s final regular-season game. The teams for that matchup, known as Game 272, won’t be determined until later in the season.
Each installment will follow NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage and local newscasts nationwide.
“We’re thrilled to be teaming up with NBC Sports again this year for these Sunday night episodes,” Tonight Show showrunner Chris Miller said in a statement.
Miller also pointed to the show’s growing sports footprint online, saying The Tonight Show generated more than 900 million social views from sports guests and coverage over the past year and is on pace to surpass 1 billion this year.
The four specials continue a strategy NBC revived last fall, when Fallon hosted four Sunday editions following Sunday Night Football that all ranked among The Tonight Show’s ten highest-rated episodes of the season
Fallon previously hosted five Tonight Show episodes following Sunday Night Football in 2019, as well as post-Super Bowl shows in 2015 and 2018. The show also aired a single post-Sunday Night Football episode in 2024.
Fallon won’t have to wait until September 27 for his first NFL boost this year. The Tonight Show will air in its regular Wednesday slot on September 9 following NBC’s season-opening NFL Kickoff game, a Super Bowl LX rematch between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
Matthew McConaughey (who last guested on The Tonight Show just last month) and Alix Earle are booked for that episode, along with a musical performance by Riley Green.
Sunday Night Football has ranked as the top primetime program for 15 consecutive seasons.
Get stories like this in your inbox: Sign up for LateNighter’s free daily newsletter.
