Netflix Scores Two NFL Christmas Day 2024 Games Under Three-Year Deal With League
In Netflix’s first move into big-league sports streaming, the company has won the rights to two NFL games on Christmas Day 2024.
On Dec. 25, 2024, Netflix will be the global home of the NFL’s two Christmas Day games. In addition, the streamer will have at least one holiday game in 2025 and 2026 as part of the three-year deal. The Netflix Christmas Day games will also air on broadcast TV in the competing teams’ cities, and they’ll be available on U.S. mobile devices with NFL+.
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Netflix will pay about $150 million total for the Christmas Day games this year ($75 million per game), the Wall Street Journal reported. It’s still TBD who will produce the games; Netflix declined to comment on that detail.
The two NFL games on Netflix on Christmas Day 2024 will be Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers — presenting the possibility that Taylor Swift will be in attendance to root on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — and Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans.
“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 announcing the deal. “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.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to be the first professional sports league to partner with Netflix to bring live games to fans around the world,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s EVP of media distribution. “The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans.”
The NFL will announce its full 2024 schedule on Wednesday at 8 pm ET.
Netflix has already been in business with the NFL for the docuseries “Quarterback,” which premiered in 2023. This summer, “Receiver” is set to premiere on Netflix and will follow five of the NFL’s top pass-catchers through their 2023 season on and off the field: Davante Adams (Raiders), Justin Jefferson (Vikings), George Kittle, Deebo Samuel (both of the 49ers) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions).
The NFL first launched Christmas Day games in 1971 before bringing them back on a semi-regular basis in 1989. Since 2020, they’ve been a regular Xmas Day event, with last year’s three Christmas games ranking among the top 25 most viewed TV programs of 2023. The Raiders vs. Chiefs match on Dec. 25 last year — helped by Swift’s attendance — drew the highest Christmas Day viewership since 1988, according to the league. In total, the NFL has staged 30 Christmas contests.
Previously, Netflix execs have repeatedly said the streamer isn’t interested in shelling out big bucks for massive sports-rights deals — while it also has been steadily upping its lineup of live sports content as well as sports-adjacent programming.
In what likely represents its biggest deal to date in this area, Netflix is set to become the exclusive home of WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” beginning in 2025, under a deal valued at $500 million per year for 10 years. In January, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on Netflix’s earnings call about the WWE deal, “I would not look at this as a signal to any other change, or a change to our sports strategy,” calling the WWE programming “sports entertainment” rather than sports in the conventional sense.
Last month, Sarandos reiterated comments he’s made before about Netflix’s approach to sports rights. The company “is not anti-sports, but pro-profitable growth,” he said on the Q1 2024 earnings call. “And I think that’s the core of everything we do in all kinds of programming, including sports. So, our North Star is to grow engagement, revenue and profit.”
Among other live sports content, Netflix has a deal to livestream a boxing match between Jake Paul and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in July 2024. It also recently carried “The Netflix Slam,” a tennis matchup in Las Vegas between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, and a golf event, “The Netflix Cup.”
Pictured above: Travis Kelce (No. 87) of the Kansas City Chiefs runs after catching a pass during the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium on Dec. 25, 2023 in Kansas City, Mo.
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