NFL to air Christmas Day games on Netflix

“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer in a statement from NFL communications on the deal.

“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.”

“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,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution.

“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.”

According to Bloomberg, the NFL will pay  Netflix “less than $150 million per game” for exclusive broadcast rights.

Teams and matchups featured on Christmas Day will be part of the NFL’s full schedule reveal, which will take place at 5 p.m. PDT on Wednesday afternoon.