Following the 2023 NFL schedule release, we now know the three Christmas Day games for 2023. Let’s take a look at which teams will play games on Christmas and Christmas Eve this year. Here are the teams who’ll receive an extra holiday helping of late-season football.
NFL Christmas Games and Schedule
We now know that there will be a total of three games on Christmas Day, with the remainder being played on Thursday and Sunday (Christmas Eve).
Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
- Kickoff Time: 1 p.m. ET
- TV Channel: CBS & Nickelodeon
We’ll get a helping of slime for our Christmas Day lunch as the Chiefs host the Raiders in the 1 p.m. kickoff. There have been some entertaining games between these two in recent years, but the Chiefs have had the Raiders’ number. Kansas City has won the last five games between the two teams and 10 of the past 11.
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If the recent history of this matchup is anything to go by, then the Chiefs could be giving their fans a victory as a Christmas present this year.
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
- Kickoff Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
- TV Channel: FOX
The middle helping of Christmas Day games will see the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles hosting their division rivals, the New York Giants. Games between these two teams are nearly always fiercely contested, and this Week 16 matchup will likely be no different.
The expectation is that both the Giants and Eagles will very much be in the playoff picture late in the year, and this game could have a lot riding on it.
Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers
- Kickoff Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
- TV Channel: ABC
We have a Super Bowl rematch from Super Bowl 47, the Harbaugh Bowl. Only one Harbaugh remains, but both teams will be contending this year, hoping to see each other again in February.
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The Ravens secured the return of Lamar Jackson. The 49ers will have Brock Purdy back by training camp, according to Kyle Shanahan. This late in the season, those two players aim to have this game mean something for both teams.
Why Does the NFL Play on Christmas? History and More
Originally, the NFL didn’t play games on Christmas. At first, that wasn’t deliberate. Rather, in the NFL’s early history, the regular season didn’t stretch into December and often wrapped up at the tail end of November. Consequently, Thanksgiving has a much richer football history and tradition.
Through the middle of the 20th century, regular-season football games, at the latest, tracked into mid-December. This was back when the NFL and AFL were separate entities, and at the conclusion of the regular season, the respective NFL and AFL Championship games would be scheduled for two weeks in advance.
Both the NFL and AFL preferred to avoid playing on Christmas. The NFL bumped back the championship one day if it fell on Christmas — as it did in both 1955 and 1960. The AFL, meanwhile, bumped its championship game back a full week, blocking off Christmas week entirely.
The 1971 NFL playoffs marked the first instance that multiple NFL games were played on Christmas without being rescheduled. The latter game that day — the Miami Dolphins versus the Kansas City Chiefs — would end up being the longest game in NFL history.
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That game brought added attention to the Christmas Day action in 1971, but not all of that attention was good. There were complaints directed toward the NFL that the length of the game impacted Christmas Day festivities. The NFL also came under fire for playing on a traditional and religious holiday.
As a result of the blowback, the NFL began avoiding Christmas again in the years following the 1971 playoffs, taking a number of steps to avoid scheduling games on Dec. 25. But in 1989, the NFL pushed the regular season back a week to incorporate the holiday again, and scheduled a late-night game that wouldn’t interrupt family gatherings.
That iteration of the Christmas schedule was a success, and contemporary changes to the NFL schedule have made the inclusion of Christmas unavoidable. The NFL has a bye week, as of 1990, which stretches the regular season another week, and the recent addition of a Week 18 further engulfs Christmas within the regular-season action.
Over the past two decades, however, Christmas and Christmas Eve games have begun to garner more acceptance as traditional NFL staples. Since 1989, 25 regular-season games have been played on Christmas.
How Many Games Are on Christmas and Christmas Eve?
The number of games played on Christmas ultimately depends on where Christmas falls within the week in that given year. In 2022, Christmas fell on a Sunday, and we saw three games played on the holiday. But often, three will be the maximum, while most of the remaining NFL action is deferred to Christmas Eve.
The NFL won’t force Christmas games upon the league’s players if Christmas doesn’t line up with the schedule, however. Christmas games are not a yearly requirement. The NFL went without any Christmas games from 2012 to 2015, and through 2018 and 2019.
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Simply put, the number of Christmas games fluctuates based on the placement of Christmas Day itself. If it takes place on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, it’s likely that there will be no Christmas games. Thursday, Saturday, and Monday open the door for one or two Christmas contests, while Sunday carries the most weight.
Nevertheless, the majority of games scheduled for the week of Christmas will not take place on the holiday itself. They’ll instead be deferred to Christmas Eve or to the day after Christmas — again based on the placement of the day within the week.
In 2023, it’s convenient for the NFL. Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, while Christmas falls on a Monday. Thus, the calendar naturally allows for most of the holiday games to take place on Sunday, while the lesser number of Christmas games take place on Monday.