Netflix is entering the final year of its current deal with the NFL for two Christmas Day games. The league, however, has made it clear they intend for the day to always be a tripleheader moving forward, as it was this past season.
While Prime Video had the rights to last season’s third Christmas game, it sounds like Fox will be broadcasting on Christmas Day in 2026.
Details about the upcoming season have been spilling out of this week’s NFL owners’ meetings. According to Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports, one of those details is that Fox will have the rights to the third game on Christmas Day. This came out of a conversation that NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder had with the media during the day.
“There will be another Christmas tripleheader, with Netflix carrying two of the games, and this time, Fox will have the third,” wrote Fisher. “The sequence of those three is not settled, but given the global presence that is fundamental to the Netflix pact, it’s likely it will show the initial two holiday games, leaving Fox in primetime for U.S. audiences.”
That was the case in 2025, when Netflix broadcast the Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Commanders at 1:00 p.m. ET and the Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings at 4:30 p.m., before Prime had the Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The ratings for those games were through the roof (setting streaming records to boot) despite lacking too much drama, so there was likely no shortage of suitors for it, especially if it ends up being the primetime contest.
As for how Fox ended up with that game, rather than it being part of one of the packages the NFL is reportedly bundling for streamers, we’ll have to wait and see.
Fox was part of the regular rotation for Christmas Day games before the Netflix deal, having last done so in 2023.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.