With the superstar quarterback leading the way, the NFL MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills will get their share of primetime exposure and featured standalone matchups once the NFL releases its 2025 schedule next month.
Naturally, there is the lingering question of when those primetime meetings will be scheduled and if any will fall on a holiday, particularly Christmas. Since Christmas Day is a Thursday this year, the NFL plans to feature three games on December 25, 2025.
“I think our fans have shown us that they are interested in Christmas. The viewership is there, the attendance is there, the interest from our broadcast partners is there. We added Netflix last year for the first time," said NFL VP for Broadcast Planning Mike North during an interview on the It's Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast.
Especially after their success in 2024 (the two games attracted a combined 65 million viewers), it sounds as if Christmas will feature at least one NFL game annually.
"We will play on Christmas as appropriate. Look, we talked about this last year. We played on a Wednesday. We played on a Wednesday, we'll play whenever Christmas falls," said North.
With a Thursday triple header scheduled for this upcoming December, there's an increased likelihood that the Bills could get the call as one of the six teams to play on Christmas. Whether or not they are included on the December 25 slate, the reigning five-time AFC East champions will almost definitely find themselves in multiple primetime windows late in the season.
“I would think, for a team like Buffalo, if we're doing our jobs right, we probably don't want them all in the first half of the season. It seems like Buffalo is a team, historically at least, you'd be led to believe you'd think would be relevant down the stretch, so you can kind of count on a team like Buffalo playing in a big national window or two in December," said North. "If we're doing our jobs, I think we're spreading out the Buffalo national television appearances."
The Bills earned Thanksgiving Day victories in 2019, 2021 and 2022, and the viewership numbers were above the annual average for the time slots that featured Buffalo. It wouldn't be a surprise if the NFL called on them to beef up the Christmas Day lineup this year.
"We've been very successful, whether it's with Kansas City or Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia these last few years. Those are big brands and those are playoff relevant games, and you can see the interest is there and the fanhood is there. Well, the interest is there then from the media partners as well," said North. "So nothing set, I don't think beyond this year or next year, but for this year, you'll see Netflix in the afternoon, Amazon at night because it's a Thursday, which makes everybody eligible.”
