Christmas Day has always been known as a time of peace, joy, and… football, apparently.
Returning to its former holiday tradition, this week, the NFL announced its Christmas Day matchups for the 2025 season. Netflix will stream Dallas at Washington and Detroit at Minnesota, while Amazon will host the nightcap, Denver at Kansas City, as part of its ongoing deal to stream Thursday Night Football.
This will be the NFL’s first-ever Christmas Day game played on a Thursday. Last season’s matchups were played on a Wednesday, indicating the league’s interests in aligning games with the holiday regardless of which day it falls on. As an increasingly major player in live sports broadcasting, Netflix is streaming holiday games for the second time as part of a three-year agreement the media giant signed with the NFL in 2024.
The NFL’s decision to continue holiday games is clearly driven by popular demand. Last year’s games were a huge hit: more than 27 million viewers on average watched both games. With numbers like this, don’t be surprised if the NFL renews its tradition of Christmas Day football again moving forward, providing fans with more opportunities to celebrate the holidays gathered around the gridiron instead of the fireplace.
The NFL will play Christmas Day games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016-17. Last season, the Chiefs defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh, while the Ravens dismantled the Texans in Houston. This year, the league seems to have prioritized marquee matchups to capitalize on the massive audience it is set to have throughout the day.
As of publication, tickets for two of the three games are going for slightly higher than average prices, relative to the rest of their schedules. Get-in prices for the Cowboys vs Commanders game start at $250, while fans can attend the Lions vs Vikings tilt for $190. For the nightcap, fans can attend for $200, which is about what they can expect to pay for a typical home game at Arrowhead Stadium this season
The NFL’s schedule release this week surely has inspired many fans to create all-new traditions for their families– and maybe even add a yuletide win to their wish lists.
