Insider blasts NFL for Christmas Day scheduling decision

NFL insider Albert Breer used his anticipated return to the Sports Illustrated website on Tuesday to blast the league for planning to hold a pair of games on Christmas Day 2024 even though the holiday falls on a Wednesday.

"The Christmas Day thing is a pretty unnecessary display of greed by the league and its owners," Breer said. "To make four teams, and I’m going to assume the NFL will intend to have contenders in those broadcast windows, in a spot to play three games in just 11 days on the doorstep of the playoffs only makes sense in one way, and we all know what way that is." 

Breer didn't directly say that the "way" is related to the television ratings generated by Christmas football games. This past December, the NFL attracted over 27 million viewers for each of its three games played on Christmas. NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder said before the holiday that the league wouldn't schedule contests when Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday or Wednesday, but insiders didn't buy that claim knowing that the league would dominate the NBA regarding viewership numbers on Dec. 25. 

It's not yet known which teams will play this coming Christmas or when the clubs involved will have games scheduled for before and after the holiday. According to Tony Catalina of Pro Football Network, the full schedule for the 2024 season will likely be released during the second week of May.

Interestingly, Breer revealed that the NFL Players Association "was given no heads up about the NFL’s plans for two Christmas Day games on a Wednesday." That's not too surprising considering league owners haven't cared about players hating having to compete in "Thursday Night Football" contests following Sunday afternoon games. 

While the NBA previously held a Christmas Day monopoly among the top North American sports leagues, it now seems that the NFL will take that date over every year moving forward. Analysts and reporters may not love teams having to play on weekdays, but the numbers show fans simply can't get enough NFL action from September through the first or second Sunday of February.