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Don’t lose that remote control among all the crumpled wrapping paper and empty boxes on Christmas Day, because if you want to watch two key NFL games, you’ll have to call a new channel. Netflix is diving headlong into the live sports streaming business, airing two NFL games on Christmas Day.
The NFL gifted Netflix with two playoff games: Kansas City at Pittsburgh at 1 pm ET, and Baltimore at Houston at 4:30 pm ET. A full group of analysts and commentators will participate in the two-game spectacle. And because too much is never enough at Christmas, the second game will feature a halftime performance by Beyoncé. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
The Christmas Day NFL duo marks Netflix’s biggest live streaming effort to date, and the streaming service’s biggest gamble since it opted for DVD-by-mail streaming. This is what is at stake for everyone involved.
NFL: Sorry Santa, the Shield owns Christmas now
The NFL has scheduled games on Christmas Day for the past five years, but with Christmas falling on a Wednesday this year, that presented a logistical challenge. Due to the tight turnaround time of the previous or following Sunday, there is a fairly short history of NFL games on Wednesdays. There was a Steelers-Ravens game during COVID (never talk about those days again) and a Cowboys-Giants 2012 season opener that was moved to avoid a speech by President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Before that, you have to go back to 1948 to see a Wednesday game.
Not wanting to force any of its teams into an even shorter season finale change, the NFL initially planned to remove 2024 from the Christmas broadcasts. But then the league took a look at the ratings for last year’s Christmas games (three games averaging 28.68 million viewers, topping the 29.48 for Raiders-Chiefs) and decided that yes, football in Wednesday is viable after all.
Bending even the schedule to its indomitable will and hunger, the NFL simply scheduled the four Christmas Day teams for Saturday games in Week 16, giving them the same amount of free time they would have for a Sunday-to-Thursday switch. Combine that with $150 million from Netflix to stream the two games, and here we are.
Still, that compact time frame means teams will play three games in a span of 11 days, which Patrick Mahomes admitted “wasn’t a good feeling.” But the game continues and hopefully everyone will be intact by the end of Christmas Day.
For the NFL, Netflix’s move is a move that has nothing but advantages. Netflix has 282.3 million subscribers in 190 countries. In theory, all of them could watch this game as part of their normal subscription. That’s a tempting proposition for a league that always has its eyes on the next potential conquest.
In the worst case scenario, the league continues with its current partners. Best case scenario: There’s a new source of streaming revenue for the league. And Beyonce’s halftime show around 6 p.m. ET could draw many non-football fans to the screen to watch the show and turn Christmas Day into a second Super Bowl Sunday. As always, it’s a win-win for the NFL.
Netflix: Will streaming work for everyone?
The streaming service that has banked on original content and A-list movie stars is walking a much higher tightrope with its NFL effort. First, there’s the question of whether everyone will be able to watch the games, given the technical glitches that marred the “fight” between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that Netflix aired last month. As AP gradesthat fight peaked at 65 million simulcasts, while the largest audience for a streamed NFL game to date is last year’s Dolphins-Chiefs wild-card playoff game on Peacock, which logged 23 million viewers.
Netflix has insisted that it will be ready for the onslaught of NFL fans and, later in the broadcast, Beyonce fans, but there sure are some nerves around Netflix headquarters right now.
On a broader scale, the NFL games represent a big step forward for Netflix in its global entertainment ambitions. Netflix is betting on production and bringing together more than 20 names from the world of sports and entertainment to offer commentary before, during and after the game.
The appeal of the NFL for Netflix is obvious. Live sports are the last remaining real-time programming; No one records a game to watch days or weeks later, like most of us do with TV shows. As the NFL distances itself from the more activist days of 2020 and 2021, it has become one of the few unifying forms of entertainment still available in a polarized America. Netflix follows that trend and intends to capitalize on it.
Netflix has streamed some unique live events before, including golf and tennis matches and Paul/Tyson. Christmas Day marks the streamer’s first repeat intent; Netflix could receive Christmas Day games in the coming years and will begin streaming WWE’s Monday Night Raw in January. Later, Netflix will air the Women’s World Cup, a surprising development in streaming and a sign that Amazon and Apple aren’t the only streaming services in town.
The fans: Another new way of seeing sport
We’re several years into the big sports streaming shift, so at this point it shouldn’t be that big of a mental adjustment to conceive of watching NFL games on streaming-only platforms. Yes, you have to locate that elusive remote and navigate to a new service, but it’s not that different from locating Prime Video games on Thursday night or Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. The NFL has been training fans to seek out its games on streaming services for several years now, precisely for times like this.
However, it’s worth remembering that not everyone has a smart TV with Netflix enabled. More specifically, not everyone has Netflix. Obviously, that’s the streamer’s goal, to get more subscribers through all this effort, but for fans, it can mean scrambling, tracking down a credit card, and frantic calls to kids or grandkids to get Netflix up and running on Christmas Day. . The ratings for this effort will be an interesting barometer of how far fans are willing to go to chase and pay for something that was once free and easy.
The teams: Implications of the playoffs in both games
Oh wait, there are actual games to talk about! I almost forgot. Early in the game, Kansas City can clinch the No. 1 overall seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a win. That’s enough incentive to overcome the fatigue of three games in 11 days. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh needs to stay ahead of Baltimore in its final two games to keep its AFC North championship hopes alive; both are 10-5 right now.
In the last game, Houston already clinched a playoff spot, but it can move up a notch if the two AFC North teams struggle in the final two games. Baltimore’s path to an AFC North title begins with a victory on Christmas. If both AFC North teams go 2-0 (or 0-2) in their last two games, Pittsburgh wins the tiebreaker, but if they go 1-1, things get much more complicated. Baltimore has to stay undefeated and hope Pittsburgh loses 1 to have the best possible chance.
The NBA: overthrown from its throne
If you thought of the NBA as Whoville, happily broadcasting its Christmas Day games for years, and the NFL as the Grinch, moving forward to steal Christmas from the Whos, well… that’s pretty accurate. The NFL’s Christmas Day assault couldn’t have come at a worse time for the NBA, which finds itself at the end of the LeBron-Steph-KD era and the beginning of a new, uncertain one. Concerns about the league’s ratings may or may not be overblown, but there is no doubt that the NFL eclipses the NBA in popularity and will absorb many casual viewers on what was once the NBA’s holiday.
The guy just got off a trip around the world; He deserves to watch football without boots, with his feet up and a glass of punch in his hand. Who will Santa cheer up? Well, your favorite team, of course.