This Christmas will mark the first time NFL games will appear exclusively on Netflix. For $150 million, the streaming service purchased the rights to two games, which will air at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET, respectively.
Netflix To Exclusively Stream Christmas Day NFL Games
If you want to watch the two NFL games on Christmas Day you better have Netflix, or live in one of the four cities participating in the games. The four cities playing in the games are the only ones that will get the games on local affiliates.
In the first matchup, the Kansas City Chiefs will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. After that game has concluded, the streaming platform will go to Houston where the Houston Texans are hosting the Baltimore Ravens.
It’s the first time one of the four major U.S. sports will be aired live on Netflix. The games will be available to all Netflix subscribers, regardless of their subscription type.
“Pursuing rights to live sports events is not a particularly unique strategy anymore – we’re seeing it all across the major streaming players now,” Jacqueline Corbelli, chief executive of BrightLine, a technology company that specializes in television advertising, told MarketWatch, which was reported by Morningstar.
“It will continue to get more and more expensive to secure these rights, and it’s just the beginning.”
Netflix, which reached a deal to broadcast the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup last week, now has the NFL, soccer, WWE, and boxing in its sports-streaming portfolio.
Some analysts have said premier programming like live sports could offer a pathway for streamers to raise prices.
Netflix also owns the NFL rights to Christmas broadcasts through the 2026 holiday season.
Netflix’s Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight in November drew 108 million viewers. Technical woes were an issue throughout the fight, but many of them subsided as the night’s event carried on.
If you don’t have Netflix or live in one of the four cities participating in the games, you can watch the Christmas Day games at your local bar, only if they purchased a commercial license through DirecTV to broadcast the games.
If you have Netflix but want to watch the games at your leisure, be advised that they will be removed from the platform three hours after the last game.