By all accounts, Netflix is sparing no expense when it comes to their Christmas Day NFL games.
Not only will they have star-studded studio teams and broadcasters, but they’ve enlisted Beyoncé to perform during halftime of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.
On Wednesday, TMZ Sports reported that the NFL would extend halftime so that the superstar performer could put on a longer show than would normally be possible.
While regular-season halftime tends to last between 12 and 14 total minutes, Super Bowl halftime can last as long as 25 total minutes due to the large-scale performances that take place there. TMZ reported that the Christmas Day halftime would be extended to 20 total minutes to give Beyoncé a chance to perform a longer set.
BEYONCÉ
Halftime of Ravens vs. Texans
Kickoff at 4:30PM ET
Christmas Day on Netflix #NFLonNetflix pic.twitter.com/p3t7L5XPQt— Netflix (@netflix) December 11, 2024
If true, that would be a fairly notable move by the NFL to help Netflix out. We have to imagine they get asked such favors often by their broadcasting partners and the lack of 20-minute halftime shows during the season tells us the answer is usually no.
However, it turns out that the report might not be accurate.
Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, responded to a fan account’s post on X on Thursday, refuting the news that the singer would get a longer halftime slot.
“Untrue,” wrote Noel-Schure. “Her performance will not be 20 minutes.”
Now, this might be a case of broken telephone. While a Super Bowl halftime might last 25 minutes, the halftime performance itself is often between 12 and 15 minutes. So even if the Christmas Day halftime was extended to 20 minutes in total, Beyoncé’s performance would probably be around 8-10 minutes, allowing time beforehand for stage setup and afterward for stage breakdown and the players returning to the field. Noel-Schure denied that Beyoncé would perform for 20 minutes, but she was never going to perform for 20 minutes either way.
So, we’ll have to wait and see if we get clarity on that timeframe so we know what to expect on Christmas. Given the money Netflix is spending on broadcasting rights, talent, and production, we wouldn’t be surprised if the 20-minute halftime total runtime turned out to be true after all.
Of course, if Netflix has outages and issues like they did with the Tyson-Paul match, it won’t matter much how long halftime is.
