Following the beginning of the legal tampering period in NFL free agency, some big names were quick to make moves.
Netflix has a gift for football fans this holiday season.
The streaming giant announced on Wednesday that it will broadcast the NFL's two Christmas Day games this season and at least one holiday showdown in 2025 and 2026.
The two matchups for 2024 include the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and an AFC divisional round rematch between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. Netflix revealed the matchups Wednesday afternoon ahead of the NFL's full schedule release.
Netflix has partnered with the NFL before, but this will mark its first time broadcasting live games. The company released its "Quarterback" series in July 2023 and will premiere its follow-up "Receiver" series this summer. It also aired its Tom Brady roast live on May 5.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more,” Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in the announcement. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”
Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday in 2024. There have only been two other regular season Wednesday games in the Super Bowl era, with the most recent being a Ravens-Steelers matchup in 2020 that was postponed three times due to positive COVID-19 tests.
NFL
The Christmas Day games will air on broadcast TV in the cities of the competing teams, and they will also be available to stream on NFL+.
