Roger Goodell: NFL to play three games on Christmas every year

The NFL will be playing three games on Christmas in 2025 and that's the plan for every year in the future as well.

That was the word from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday. The league said at one point that they would not play games on Christmas if it fell on a Tuesday or Wednesday, but they shifted to schedule a pair of games when Christmas fell on Wednesday in 2024.

NFL vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling Mike North said recently that the league might stick with two games on a Tuesday or Weednesday, but Goodell said that the league plans to keep the three-game schedule in place regardless of when Christmas falls in the week.

"We will clearly have three games every year," Goodell said.

The Chiefs played on Christmas the last two years and expressed interest in being a fixture on the holiday, but North said that the league is unlikely to have a permanent Christmas team. Goodell concurred by saying "I think we'll continue to rotate" the teams that play that day.