Netflix’s standing as a sports streaming service continues to grow. The entertainment platform has secured the broadcasting rights to two of the 2024 NFL Christmas Day games.
The platform will stream the Kansas City Chiefs’ clash against Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans’ game against Baltimore Ravens. This builds on the platform’s engagement with the NFL over the past few years, chiefly from an entertainment standpoint.
‘Quarterback’, a documentary series focusing on NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mairota, was first shown on Netflix in 2024.
The platform is set to follow Quarterback with ‘Receiver’, which will follow Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams, Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle and Deebo Samuel and Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St Brown.
Hans Schroeder, NFL EVP of Media Distribution, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to be the first professional sports league to partner with Netflix to bring live games to fans around the world.
“The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans.”
The addition of the two fixtures to the Netflix sports roster came shortly before the NFL unveiled its full schedule for 2024, including Holiday matches. Christmas Day games were a semi-regular occurrence in the NFL since 1989, but were made a yearly occurrence in 2020.
Thanksgiving (28 November) will see the Chicago Bears host the Lions, the New York Giants face the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins go up against the Green Bay Packers. Black Friday will see the Raiders against the Chiefs.
Netflix’s acquisition of the NFL Christmas Day games comes as the streaming platform looks to up the ante on its sports broadcasting. The company signed a 10-year deal for WWE Raw in a major boost earlier this year, followed by acquiring the rights to the upcoming boxing bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
Documentary production remains a staple of the platform’s sporting content, however. Recent productions include a series about Manchester City’s English/European treble winning 2022/23 team, a two-part show about the MLB’s Boston Red Sox and a possible upcoming programme about football strikers.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” remarked Bela Bajaria, Netflix Chief Content Officer.
“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.”
