Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL doubleheader will move forward without the help of scandalized former wide receiver Antonio Brown.
He previously supplemented the streaming giant’s troubled feed during last month’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson bout outside Dallas, where Brown livestreamed fight footage from AT&T Stadium amid the website’s technical difficulties. At one point, a reported 7.6 million viewers were watching Paul cruise to an easy win over the 58-year-old Tyson on Brown’s X feed.
Many viewers took to Twitter/X and Bluesky to express their frustrations with streaming and buffering problems before and during the fight, and according to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight.
This time, viewers won’t be able to rely on the NFL outcast, as he joked on X.
‘Did not make it to Pittsburgh today,’ the former Steelers star wrote. ‘If Netflix messes up I’m not there to save the day.’
Brown, who earned over $80million during his football career, welcomed his seventh child with a fourth different woman back in July, but has gained a reputation in recent months for his CTE-related social media posts. (He claims to have the degenerative brain disease, which can only be diagnosed posthumously)
The Netflix Gameday set is seen before the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs
Former Pittsburgh Steelers players Antonio Brown (L) and Le’Veon Bell (R) leave the stage after Brown spoke in support of Donald Trump on November 5, 2024
Netflix will have one of its biggest days Wednesday since the site launched in 1998 when it airs two NFL games for the first time. ‘NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix’ begins with a two-hour pregame show at 11am, before Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City. Baltimore faces Houston in the second game. All four teams last played on Saturday.
The streaming giant agreed to a three-year contract in May to carry Christmas Day games.
Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in over 190 countries will be able to stream the games, marking the first time one outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix will have the games available in five languages – English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
The games will also air on CBS affiliates in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston. NFL policy dictates that games on cable or being exclusively streamed must also be on an over-the-air station in the competing teams’ markets. It will also be available on mobile devices in the U.S. for those who have NFL+.
The biggest reason is money. The league is getting $150 million from Netflix for the two games this season. It also continues the NFL’s moves into streaming – Thursday night games are in their third season on Amazon Prime Video and the ‘Sunday Ticket’ package moved to YouTube TV last year.
The Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans will tangle in the back end of the doubleheader
That’s true, but the league wasn’t about to give up Christmas after seeing the ratings. Last year’s three games averaged 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon contest between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chiefs led the way, averaging 29.48 million.
The Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens and Texans played on Saturday, giving them the same turnaround they would have if they played on Sunday and then Thursday.
All four have clinched playoff spots in the AFC, but seeding remains up for grabs.
Kansas City (14-1) can clinch the top seed – which would mean a first-round bye and home field throughout the playoffs – with a win over the Steelers. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are tied atop the AFC North at 10-5, with the Steelers holding the tiebreaker due to a better conference record.
Houston (9-6) has wrapped up the AFC South and holds the fourth seed.
The largest audience for a streamed-exclusive NFL game was 23 million on Peacock for last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and Chiefs.
Nielsen will measure the ratings for the Christmas Day games, with early numbers expected late afternoon on Thursday.
There is no word if Taylor Swift will make the trip to Pittsburgh to watch her boyfriend
It will probably beat kickoff for both games, but especially around 5:45pm EST. That would be near halftime of the Ravens-Texans game, and when Beyoncé will be performing.
Mariah Carey will kick off the day with a taped performance of ‘All I Want for Christmas is You.’
There is no word if Taylor Swift will make the trip to Pittsburgh to watch her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift has been spending time in Kansas City since she wrapped up her Eras Tour two weeks ago.
The NFL will have at least two games on December 25 in 2025 and ’26, with Netflix slated to have at least one each year. Amazon Prime Video will have a night game with Christmas on a Thursday next year.
Netflix’s worldwide partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment will begin on January 6 when ‘Monday Night Raw’ moves to the streaming service.
On Friday, Netflix secured the U.S. rights for the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
