Facts and figures behind Netflix’s NFL games on Christmas Day
June 27, 2024
‘Tis the season to be jolly – and for the next three years the marquee Christmas NFL games will be available, live, to anyone with a Netflix subscription.
It’s one of the stated aims of the league to expand the viewing figures by increasing access to live games, so this seems like a logical move.
They have already got into bed with other streaming services like Prime Video. The children’s channel Nickelodeon even presented its own Super Bowl show this year, aimed to attract a whole new generation of fans.
It’s an arrangement that’s also set to benefit Netflix which may be gradually expanding its offering beyond generated content and, to a lesser extent, its original movie streaming service.
Sources from within Netflix have suggested that there is going to be a general move towards live content in a bid to directly challenge the major networks in a bid to increase viewing figures and, by extension, the number of subscribers to the service.
The deal explained
It’s not known how long the negotiations took to conduct, but the results were formally announced back in mid-May.
The details, as far as have been revealed, are that for the next three holiday seasons up to and including 2026 Netflix will have the rights to show two Christmas Day games. At the announcement of the deal Bela Belaria, the streaming service’s Chief Content Officer commented.” 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.”
There was rumoured to be a bidding war between Netflix and Prime Video, but the superior financial muscle, and the fact that this would introduce a new live streaming service, meant that the former won out.
As to how much the deal is costing, no official disclosures have been made. However Bloomberg announced that it was believed to be around $150 million per game.
Given that the rights to broadcast the Super Bowl cost around $2 billion a year, the $900,000 Netflix are allegedly paying for six games looks like something of a bargain. Sure,they won’t have the overall appeal of the main event in the NFL calendar, but they do have a huge potential audience of holidaying football fans.
Sportsbooks are also set to benefit as many of these fans will also be playing close attention to the NFL odds to these high-profile games.
Netflix and the NFL
Another reason why this was a logical move is the growing link between Netflix and not just the NFL but sport in general. The streaming service has created a genre all of its own taking a fly-on-the-wall approach to different sports. Examples include Drive To Survive which lifted the lid on Formula One motor racing with Break Point and Full Swing doing the same for tennis and golf respectively.
For football, there’s been Quarterback, the 2023 series focusing on three giants of the game, Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota. In the pipeline is a sister series simply called Receiver including Davante Adams, Amon-Ra St. Brown and other players from teams that always feature highly in the NFL odds.
The Christmas Games
The two games that we’ll be watching on Netflix on Christmas Day are set to be thrillers.
In the first, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens will be demonstrating the QB skills that last season earned him his second MVP and who is largely responsible for the team already being third favourites in NFL odds for the 2025 Super Bowl. Their opponents will be the Houston Texans.
In the second match the Kansas City Chiefs will be in Pittsburgh pitting their might against the Steelers. One would imagine that Netflix are very much hoping that a certain musician will be in attendance at the live game to watch her partner Travis Kelce in TV action.
Even if it isn’t a great day for Swifties, they will be treated to the sight of Patrick Mahomes demonstrating just why he’s the hottest quarterback in the game today.
A brief history of football at Christmas
While players and their families may not be exactly overjoyed at missing out on the holiday, there is a fairly long tradition of this occurring.
It was in 1970 when the AFL and NFL merged that it began. In those days the season ended in mid-December and the play-offs started soon after. In 1971 the league sanctioned two of these game, the Vikings against the Cowboys and the Dolphins against the Chiefs. The second of these games even ended up being the longest in NFL history at 82 minutes 40 seconds of play.
The four teams involved in 2024 will be hoping to get home sooner that that – but the fans will be looking forward to a veritable feast of Christmas action.