Netflix has been making a ton of moves recently that reflect a pivot toward more traditional TV models. In fact, the streaming giant’s decision to broadcast live sports and start including ads on their videos would be shocking to subscribers just 5 years ago.
Now, they’ve announced a new 3-year deal with the NFL to stream their wildly popular Christmas games. This is huge because, of course, the NFL commands a huge US audience. This move further cements Netflix’s foray into sports as they’ve already struck deals with the WWE for Monday Night Raw and secured exclusive rights to the Mike Tyson and Logan Paul fight.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live – tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Bela Bajaria, the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, said in a statement. “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.”
They then announced that there are two games set for Christmas Day – Kansas City Chiefs vs the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs the Houston Texans. While the 2025 and 2026 game matchups have obviously not been announced yet, we know that Netflix will be the streaming home for at least one game on Christmas Day in each of those years.
Now, as previous streaming NFL deals have already made clear, Netflix is not going to have exclusive rights to air these games. They will be the streaming home, but local TV networks will still carry the games for the region they’re played in. If you’re a football fan outside of that range, you can watch it on Netflix or NFL Plus (on your mobile device only).
This has been a big year for Netflix sports announcements. Now that they have deals in place for wrestling, boxing and football, I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear something about a baseball or basketball deal real soon. I’m sure it’s already in the works.
