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Yesterday β€” 24 December 2024Main stream

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones lobbies for NFL Christmas Day games to continue on annual basis

24 December 2024 at 16:30

Jerry Jones is one of the most high profile and outspoken NFL team owners. The 82-year-old billionaire rarely shies away from sharing his thoughts on a variety of subjects, especially when it comes to topics related to professional football.

Earlier this year, the league announced that it reached a three-year deal with Netflix. The agreement gave the streaming giant the rights to the 2024 Christmas Day doubleheader. The game will be available exclusively to Netflix subscribers at no extra cost.Β 

While Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, Jones hopes games will continue to be scheduled on an annual basis, no matter which day of the week the holiday happens to fall on.

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"Christmas Day is Christmas Day, and it doesn’t wait around for what day it’s on. We want to be there on Christmas Day," Jones said during his latest appearance on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan.

"I would think the future is whatever day it’s on, we’re going to be there on Christmas."

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Christmas falls on a Thursday in 2025. The NFL schedule makers will likely be prepared for that, considering the league already holds games on Thursday nights throughout the regular season. However, 2029 could present some challenges as the holiday falls on a Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers host the reigning back-to-back champion Kansas City Chiefs in the first of the two holiday games. The Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans also go head-to-head in the special holiday set of games. All four of those teams played their Week 16 games on Saturday to accommodate for competing on a Wednesday.

Music superstar and Houston native BeyoncΓ© is expected to perform at halftime of the Texans-Ravens game at NRG Stadium.

The league has scheduled games on Christmas Day for the past few years. But for decades, the NBA traditionally dominated the holiday by scheduling several games throughout Christmas Day. While the NBA still schedules some of its marquee teams on the holiday, those games now have to compete with the NFL.

No NHL games are scheduled for Wednesday.

Netflix also bought the rights to stream at least one holiday game in 2025 and 2026, according to the terms of the multiyear deal with the league.

"Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live – tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more," Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a news release in May shortly after the Christmas Day package of games was announced.

"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."

But Netflix is hosting the special Christmas Day games under some pressure after many of its subscribers faced issues with the live stream feed during the recent fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.

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