In 2024, the NFL aired a pair of games on Christmas Day. In 2025, the league is upping the ante by one.
In his Puck newsletter, “The Varsity,” John Ourand went into some of the specifics.
Ourand noted that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “announced plans for a tripleheader of NFL games this Christmas—with two games on Netflix and one on Amazon Prime. Christmas falls on a Thursday, which is why Amazon, the home of Thursday Night Football, gets a game.”
Both of the NFL’s 2024 Christmas Day games were streamed on Netflix. The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in the first game, while the Baltimore Ravens were on the road against the Houston Texans in the second. Neither game was particularly close, with the Chiefs and Ravens winning 29-10 and 31-2, respectively.
Despite that, as Warren Sharp detailed, the NFL viewership numbers dwarfed the NBA’s.
so the NFL is indeed taking Christmas from the NBA
the NFL is planning a Christmas TRIPLEHEADER this year (a Thursday) after the success of last year’s 2-game Christmas slate:
Game 1: Netflix
Game 2: Netflix
Game 3: Amazonlast year’s viewership domination:
24.1M – Chiefs v…
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 1, 2025
While NBA star LeBron James said “Christmas is our day” after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors in a thrilling game, he later acknowledged the disparity.
This won’t be the first time the NFL is airing three games on Christmas Day. The league aired a trio of Dec. 25 games in both 2022 and 2023. In those years, Christmas Day fell on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
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