Football fans are naturally worried about Netflix airing the two 2024 NFL Christmas games following the streaming issues for the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight last Friday.
Even though Dec. 25 falls on a Wednesday this year, two NFL Christmas games are scheduled for the holiday: Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans.
Netflix will live-stream NFL games for the first time in their history on Christmas day. And the league has reached out to the streaming service giant to ensure that things operate smoothly on the 25th, according to ESPN’S Dan Graziano:
“Obviously it would cause a major uproar if the stream cut out or froze in the middle of a spectacular Lamar Jackson scramble or Patrick Mahomes deep throw to the end zone. The NFL did check in with Netflix following the Tyson-Paul fight to ask about the problems and assess the likelihood that they could repeat themselves on Christmas. Netflix said the fight reached 60 million homes, and apparently part of the explanation to the league was that the unprecedented scale for them of broadcasting a live sporting event contributed to some of the challenges they faced.
But the NFL came away from the conversations reassured that Netflix had figured out what went wrong and that it won’t be a problem for Chiefs-Steelers or Ravens-Texans on Dec. 25.”
Also Read: REPORT: NFL Makes Final Decision For Christmas Day Games Streaming On Netflix
It would indeed be a bad look on the NFL if their first partnership with Netflix for live-streaming went awry. Fans were understandably agitated that a company worth billions like Netflix couldn’t provide users with a decent stream for one of the most highly-anticipated sporting events of the year.
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And it just so happens that the two NFL Christmas games feature four of the top teams in the AFC. With marquee stars like Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, TJ Watt and CJ Stroud playing on prime-time, Netflix has no excuses. The streams must be of high quality.
NFL Christmas Games For Fifth Straight Year
2024 marks the fifth straight season where the NFL will have games on Christmas Day. Even though it fell on a Friday in 2020, the league scheduled a Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints game at the Superdome.
A double-header was also scheduled for the 2021 season. Fans got triple the fun in 2022 and 2023, with triple-headers scheduled for both years. Last season featured the Las Vegas Raiders vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants vs. the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers.
The Chiefs, Ravens, Texans and Steelers are all poised to make the playoffs this year, so it’s an extra treat that both games carry postseason seeding implications as well.
