NFL & Beyonce: Why do American sports have Christmas days?

Since Dec. 25 fell on a Wednesday this year, the NFL initially said it was not looking for a Christmas game in 2024.

In March, the league announced it had a change of heart. Then in May, the NFL agreed to a three-year partnership with Netflix to stream Christmas games – and not just in the US.

“When we saw the viewership from last year, our fans really spoke,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution.

“They really enjoy and want NFL football for Christmas. What we’ve seen the last few years is unprecedented growth, and not just at Christmas, but at Thanksgiving.”

The NFL’s most-watched regular season game ever was a 2022 Thanksgiving game that drew 42.1 million viewers.

One of last year’s Christmas games had 29 million – second only to the 1989 game.

“The opportunity, the belief we have that soccer brings people together — that’s even more true on these major holidays,” Schroeder added.

The league says they will be world sport’s first “truly globally distributed game”.

Money is inevitably also a factor. ABC/ESPN pays $2.6bn (£2.1bn) to broadcast around 100 NBA games each season, including five Christmas games.

This corresponds to about $26m per games (£21m). To broadcast two NFL games this Christmas, Netflix has paid a reported $150m (£118m).