NEWSLETTER
Christmastime is generally full of cheer. And in 2024, it will be full of cheering. In fact, we’re talking double the cheer.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reports the league will play not one, but *TWO* Christmas Day games. It’s a Christmas Day double dip of NFL-sized proportions. I’m not sure who asked for it, but we’re getting it:
Last year, the NFL played three games on Christmas Day. It made sense, too. Christmas was on a Monday, so the league leveraged the holiday falling on a normal game day to play a triple-header. The Raiders beat the Chiefs (in what turned out to be the last game of consequence K.C. lost last season), the Eagles knocked off the Giants (Philly’s last gasp), and the Ravens blasted the 49ers (Lamar won the MVP with that one). But what the NFL planning on hosting a Christmas 2024 doubleheader on a Wednesday feels different.
The NFL is coming to Christmas
The NFL’s Christmas Day ratings (as reported on by USA Today) blowing past the NBA probably gave the league more fuel to push their way onto the holiday television schedule. So, on the one hand, I get why the NFL is angling for Christmas action. But on the other hand, I find it hypocritical that a league that feigns interest when it comes to player safety could be asking teams to do a Sunday to Wednesday turnaround. The Sunday-to-Thursday turnaround is pretty ridiculous in its own right. I don’t even want to think about taking a day off that recovery period.
It isn’t all that surprising to see the NFL try to latch on to another money-maker on the calendar. But it makes me think of something I wrote back in April 2022 when the league started to encroach on Christmas:
Don’t get me wrong. I love football on the holidays, but this seems like a bit much. And only partially because the NBA all-day Christmas happenings is as much of a tradition in my household as baking cookies for Santa before bed and waking up early to oven roast a lechon as part of an all-day cooking fest. And I’m not one to break traditions. I’m willing to be swayed, but I don’t love this development.
In the end, on the one hand, maybe this will be a cool new thing we get to test drive this winter. But on the other hand, spending another holiday with the Bears isn’t necessarily ok every fan’s wish list.
Sometimes, I feel like the leauge is doing too much. Again, I enjoy football. But it’s hard to miss something if it never leaves. And the NFL’s omnipresent nature feels like it can be a little much. I wouldn’t call it clingy, but I can see it. For what it’s worth, the NFL’s schedule release is scheduled for May. So we’ll see how things shake out on that front soon enough. Do you want to see the Bears on Christmas? Or are you like me and weary of this team ruining the holidays?
