Following the success of the Christmas Day double-header last season on Netflix, the NFL has doubled down on this approach and announced a triple-header on Christmas Day for the 2025 season.
While Netflix will retain a pair of the games, another streaming platform has been added for the third game.
NFL’s Christmas Day Tripleheader for 2025
The Christmas Day games have long been used by the NBA, with wall-to-wall games on ABC and ESPN. The NFL jumped in on the opportunity last season by twisting its schedule to play on a Wednesday instead of Thursday.
The 2024 Christmas double-header games of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans topped a massive 24 million viewers each on Netflix.
Now, with this year’s Christmas falling on Thursday, the league will schedule three games, which was first reported by John Ourand of Puck.
With Netflix retaining its two games from 2024, the third game will be broadcast as part of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package. Amazon airs more exclusive NFL games than other streamers, but its largest audience hasn’t crossed the 23 million mark yet, and that could significantly change this Christmas.
so the NFL is indeed taking Christmas from the NBA
the NFL is planning a Christmas TRIPLEHEADER this year (a Thursday) after the success of last year's 2-game Christmas slate:
Game 1: Netflix
Game 2: Netflix
Game 3: Amazonlast year's viewership domination:
24.1M – Chiefs v…
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 1, 2025
The move also means that the NFL will exclude traditional broadcast networks from the Christmas slate for a second straight year, despite being obliged to stream only one Christmas game per season on Netflix.
However, it remains to be seen which teams will take the field on Christmas Day, with the schedule for the 2025 season yet to be announced.
When Will the 2025 NFL Schedule be Released?
Given the NFL’s growing popularity, the release of the season schedule has become an event in itself. It is typically announced in the spring, with the 2024 schedule set to be released on Wednesday, May 15. For comparison, the 2022 schedule was unveiled on Thursday, May 11.
While there is no exact date for the release of the 2025 schedule, it is expected to follow a similar timeline, likely between May 10-15, with May 14 being one of the more probable dates.
However, the start of the season is already confirmed: The defending champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, will kick off the campaign on September 4 at Lincoln Financial Field. Their opponent, however, is still to be determined.
Here are some important dates on the upcoming 2025 NFL calendar:
- April 18: Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets
- April 21: Teams with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs
- April 23: Deadline for prior teams to exercise right of first refusal to restricted free agents who signed offer sheets
- April 23: Deadline for NFL teams to time, test, visit, interview, or conduct a physical examination with a draft-eligible player at any location
- April 24 – 26: NFL Draft
- May 2-5 or May 9 – 12: NFL teams may elect to hold three-day post-Draft rookie minicamp