Although Christmas Day will fall on a Wednesday in 2024, the NFL will once again have holiday games on the upcoming schedule.
According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, NFL vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder said Tuesday that there will be two games on Christmas Day 2024.
According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, the massive ratings attracted through Christmas Day games led the NFL to oppose its previous stance of holding games on Wednesdays.
The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton first revealed the figure on Tuesday.
The NFL plays weekly games on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays, and plays games on Saturdays at the end of the season.
Last season, the NFL adopted the annual culture of betting a game on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
The league has tried to avoid gambling games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of the scheduling problems it can create, however, it has proven capable of doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic when positive tests forced the NFL to move games to outliers several times. .
To prevent their groups from playing for short weeks, the NFL may want the 2024 Christmas betting groups to play on Thursday night the week before.
Another option would be to spread out the weeks off more. Waivers are made at this time of the season, but the NFL can simply extend them so that groups that play on Christmas are off the week before.
The NFL is king when it comes to the popularity of primary sports leagues in the United States, and that manifested itself on Christmas Day 2023.
According to Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports, the 2023 Christmas Day game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders was watched by an average of 29. 2 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas Day game in 34 years.
Fisher (with USA Today’s Ayrton Ostly) added that the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants averaged 29 million viewers and the San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens averaged 27. 1 million viewers.
The 49ers’ game against the Ravens was the most-watched Monday night football game in 27 years.
While the NFL broke records on Christmas Day 2023, it’s understandable that the league is willing to tweak a few things to make sure Christmas football returns in 2024.