The NFL has confirmed plans to schedule three games on Christmas Day 2025, marking a significant expansion of its holiday presence. This decision, announced during the NFL owners' meetings in late March 2025, builds on the league's recent embrace of Christmas as a key broadcasting event, regardless of the day of the week it falls on. In 2025, Christmas lands on a Thursday, December 25, prompting the league to organize a triple-header that leverages both streaming and traditional platforms.
Two of the games will be streamed exclusively on Netflix, continuing a three-year partnership that began in 2024, when the platform aired its first NFL games—the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans—drawing over 24 million viewers each.
The move follows the success of the 2024 Christmas double-header, which defied initial skepticism about midweek games (that year, Christmas fell on a Wednesday) and delivered record streaming numbers for Netflix, with a combined U.S. audience nearing 65 million.
Historically, the NFL avoided Christmas games unless they fell on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, but since 2020, it has played at least one game annually on the holiday, with triple-headers in 2022 and 2023 averaging over 27 million viewers per game on traditional TV. The 2025 plan, however, fully commits to streaming, with no mention of over-the-air broadcasts beyond local markets, signaling a shift in how the league delivers content.
Specific matchups and kickoff times remain unannounced as of April 1, 2025, with the full NFL schedule typically released in mid-May.
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