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American Football

3 NFL Games to Be Played on Christmas for the First Time in History

Christmas is still many months away, but NFL fans already have an extra reason to be excited about it. For the first time in history, three NFL games are expected to take place on this holiday, capitalizing on the fact that December 25 falls on Sunday. Mike North, NFL’s vice president of broadcasting, discussed the upcoming holiday tripleheader on Sal Capaccio’s "Sal Sports and Stuff" podcast, and explained why it makes perfect sense. "Christmas, when it falls on an NFL game day, we've had a lot of success there, with all due respect to our friends at the NBA. When we can play football on Christmas, it has proven to be something that our fans are interested in,” North told Capaccio. He also revealed that two of the games will be aired in the afternoon on CBS and Fox, followed by a regular primetime game on NBC. The NFL already holds one holiday tripleheader with Thanksgiving, and their attempt to overtake Christmas makes total sense for the league. The viewership numbers of Christmas games have been rising steadily in the past few years. Last year, Green Bay's victory over Cleveland on Fox attracted 28.6 million viewers, making it the third-most-watched game of the 2021 regular season.