Taylor Swift’s star continues to grow.
Now Swift is set to play a major role on one of the biggest holidays in America.
And Taylor Swift has a Christmas Day event that will blow fans away.
NFL announces Christmas Day slate of games
Last year, the NFL played three games on Christmas Day since the holiday fell on a Monday, which is a traditional game day.
Now the NFL wants to take over Christmas as its own standalone tent pole event.
The league announced a new deal with Netflix to buy the rights to two games to be played on December 25, 2024.
And the two games the league scheduled for Christmas Day are the Kansas City Chiefs visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans.
Following several live comedy specials – featuring Dave Chappelle and Katt Williams – Netflix said live sports was the next step in the streaming giant’s evolution.
“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 declared.
And if Netflix was going to get into the live sports business, there was no better partner than the NFL.
NFL on Netflix is the next step in the move to streaming
“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,” Bajaria added.
These games are also cash cows for the NFL, as the league sold the rights to a wild card playoff game to Amazon for $120 million.
Peacock also bought the rights to a week one game in Brazil featuring the Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL sees the future where more and more Americans ditch cable to consume content online and sought to be ahead of the curve.
“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,” NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution Hans Schroeder announced.
“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,” Schroeder added.
The Chiefs on Christmas Day is no surprise
The NFL wants the streaming games to be as successful as possible so Netflix and other tech giants will bid for the entire NFL package of games when the TV contract is up in the early 2030s.
That’s why the Chiefs are front and center.
Thanks to star tight end Travis Kelce dating Taylor Swift, the Chiefs are the biggest TV draw in the league.
Young girls – who don’t otherwise watch football – tune in to Chiefs games to see shots of Swift in the luxury box cheering on her significant other.
This year’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers – which Swift attended – drew a record audience of 123 million viewers.
There is little doubt that Swift’s presence – as well as the belief Kelce might propose to her on the field if the Chiefs won – helped draw in non-football fans.
NFL schedule makers didn’t put this game on Christmas Day by accident.
League executives want Netflix to draw in the biggest audience possible, and what better way to do that than promoting an appearance by Taylor Swift?
