Football, Christmas Day, playoff implications, Netflix streaming:

[Auggie]

about as clueless as it gets, NFL. KC at Pittsburgh and Baltimore at Houston: two potentially excellent games, with division championships and playoff seeds on the line, on the biggest holiday of the year in the middle of the week. The NFL bills it as unprecedented. Yeah, it's never been done because it's a really bad idea.

One positive, if you can call it such: I imagine the games will be repeated on the NFL channel -- if you get can that through your streaming service. Prime's Thursday night games are.

That said ...

Merry Christmas, football fans.

[FarPoint]

1. Maybe I'm just ignorant but

I have Netflix and can't find it listed for today.. I will check in at 1 pm and 4:30 hoping to watch

[rzemanfl]

12. First thing on the screen on my TV. Coverage has already started. n/t

[hlthe2b]

13. Search NFL on Netflix. Boy, are they stupid not to be highlighting it on their home page.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Money makes everything happen, doesn't it, Auggie?

[jimfields33]

4. I think cord cutters thought they'd beat the system.

[True Dough]

3. Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Revenue streams all the way!

The rich keep getting richer,
but no football for Auggie today!

[Auggie]

6. LOL

We actually are subscribing to Netflix this month, but I'll be away all today with family and friends who do not -- a nonagenarian and a centenarian. I'd rather spend the day with them anyway.

Thanks True Dough.

[True Dough]

7. Sincerely, Auggie

I hope you have a tremendous day with your relatives and pals. That is far, far more fulfilling than anything that will happen on the gridiron anyway!

Merry Christmas!

[Auggie]

10. Back at 'ya

[Oneear]

5. Will Not be Watching NFL Today it is Paid today

If people do not turn it on, the NFL will not watch the Paid Games. The NFL Light Bulb would go off, and the games would be shown on TV so Fans could Watch them.

[hlthe2b]

14. Netflix signed a contract for 2 Christmas Day games x 3 YEARS.

So, there you have it.

And Beyonce as a halftime performer for the second game doing her "Cowboy Carter" album? No thanks. I'd prefer they dug up Johnny Cash, Waylin Jennings, and any of the other long dead country music stars (and I am really NOT a country music fan, but at least they weren't poseurs). I may be without agreement here, but THAT is not her genre. NFL on Netflix on Christmas Day is $$$ manipulative enough

[Xavier Breath]

8. The interwebs say that Netflix has over 66 million US subscribers.

I'm not sure if that means all people in all the households or the number of households. Either way, it doesn't include me.

Enjoy the games, if you can.

[Docreed2003]

9. Hope their streaming capabilities are better for these games than they were for the Tyson fight

The buffering during the Tyson event made it nearly unwatchable

[ProfessorGAC]

18. A Thought On That

I think they were wholly unprepared for the fight for one simple reason. Headroom.
They have 60 million something subscribers. Maybe a third are watching at any one time but watching 5, 10, 100 different things.
Suddenly, 108 million people signed on at the exact same time and they had a load of 5 or 6 times what they were used to.
Should have been predictable by their networking experts, but obviously it wasn't.

[Johonny]

11. The Jets have been eliminated from the 2026 playoffs

[flying rabbit]

26. ...

[calguy]

15. Screw Netflix

We've had Netflix for years, and expected to spend the day watching football. Unfortunately, when I signed into Netflix and clicked on the pregame coverage, I get a message saying I'll have to "upgrade" my "plan' if I want to see this 'premium' content. Fuck That!

I love football, but I hate how greedy the billionaire team owners have become recently to squeeze more millions out of their faithful fans. I refuse to play their games. I'll watch later tonight when the games are re-broadcasted for free.

[jimfields33]

16. 66 million Americans have Netflix. If they get a quarter, it'd be very worth it to them.

They probably will get many more than half.

[calguy]

20. That's fine with me

I won't be in the live audience due to my refusal to pay more !money to Netflix to watch two mediocre games.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Agreed

What is the value of airing games on channels not everyone can see.
I don't have Netflix. I have a high enough cable bill & I don't need other "channels".
And, since I'm not a direct fan of any of the 4 teams I'm not paying for one day of games.
Plus, it's a bad idea to have 2 games in 4 days in a league claiming to care about player safety.
Just let the NBA have Christmas day!
I think it's a bad idea all around, and I can't even convince myself there is a sound economic driver for the decision.

[exboyfil]

19. They did have the four teams play on Saturday

Which kind of makes this like a Thursday game. Still I do concede your point about games too close together.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Thursday Games Are Foolish, Too

I've been a proponent of the idea that teams should only play the Thursday game coming off their bye.
Then, it's 11 days between games rather than 14. That's way better than 4 or 5.
As to the business model of those Thursday games, at least Amazon Prime is available to 180 million Anericans. That's 280% of Netflix. Still not a decision I would have made, but it is better business than Netflix.

[exboyfil]

22. Agreed

I thought the same about the bye week. That would also open up Wednesday to make up for the lost Thursday games since the bye should be around midseason +/- 3 weeks. The Christmas day game is just weird, and I have enough other stuff to watch to pay for Netflix to get it.

[calguy]

23. I've rarely missed a game since I became an NFL fan back around 1966

Been a faithful fan all these years, and now they want me to upgrade my Netflix account to watch two games on Christmas Day? Fuck them. I'm an NBA fan today, and I'll catch the games tonight on the re-broadcast.

[AKwannabe]

24. Dude

In my pjs earlier. Feet up in the recliner.
Poking the remote!!! Wtf?!?!?!?

Found a bar nearby that pivoted and was open and got to watch second half of the KC Pittsburgh game. Woot!

The NFL has my ire on this day for the coal they are passing the fans everywhere!

[Rebl2]

25. Watched

the Chiefs on one of our local stations today. We didn’t have to watch it on NF. Good game!

[JT45242]

27. They will take Christmas day viewership from the NBA...that's the goal

Netflix is just there to up the bidding war. The Mike Tyson fight showed they aren't really ready for live sports. But it does have 62 percent coverage if us households.

75 percent of Americans have prime. That's higher than satellite or cable combined.

Not sure where Christmas day games will eventually end up. But Netflix is really just a bargaining chip for real options long term. Of course. If Netflix ups it's capacity for live events it just becomes another revenue stream.

[multigraincracker]

28. In Goff WeTrust.

Go lions.

[True Dough]

29. Looks like this Netflix partnership is likely to stick around

based on these figures:

LeBron James is going to have to make room for the NFL.

Wednesday's doubleheader on Netflix set records as the most streamed NFL games in U.S. history, with numbers nearly five times more than the NBA.

The Baltimore Ravens' 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million, and the Kansas City Chiefs' 29-10 win at the Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 24.1 million, according to early viewer figures released by Nielsen on Thursday.

Nielsen also said there were 65 million U.S. viewers who tuned in for at least one minute of one of the two games.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43173264/netflix-smashes-records-nfl-doubleheader-christmas-day

[Auggie]

30. Yeah ... with more to likely come