Continuing with the shift in the sports media landscape, Netflix has announced a deal to stream live NFL games starting this season. The streaming giant has secured the rights to broadcast the NFL’s two new Christmas Day games, which were newly introduced to the schedule earlier this year. By signing this deal Netflix gets access to some of the most coveted live sports rights in the U.S.
Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, said, “Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more. 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.”
The two NFL games will feature the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Houston Texans and will stream on Netflix this Christmas Day. The platform has also secured games in 2025 and 2026, with at least one game slated for each year. Furthermore, the agreement between the NFL and Netflix continues for three years.
Hans Schroeder, NFL executive VP 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.”
Notably, in its approach to live sports Netflix has traditionally been cautious and has a history of producing sports docuseries, including collaborations with the NFL on series such as “Quarterback” and the upcoming “Receiver”. Furthermore, the streaming giant has hosted one-off events like the tennis exhibition “The Netflix Slam”, the golf tournament “The Netflix Cup” as well as the upcoming boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of Netflix, said, Netflix is “not anti-sports but pro-profitable growth. And I think that’s the core of everything we do in all kinds of programming, including sports. So, our North Star is to grow engagement, revenue, and profit. And if we find opportunities, we could drive all three of those, we will do that across an increasingly wide variety of quality entertainment.”
The NFL on the other hand has been open about its plan to be as widely available as possible. This not only involves leveraging broadcast TV but also forming partnerships with major streaming platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, which hosts Thursday Night Football, and YouTube, which offers Sunday Ticket. Additionally, the NFL has announced that the Christmas Day games will also be available on broadcast TV in the local team markets and on the NFL+ mobile app in continuation to its traditional practices.