Morning Edition
POWERED BY
The sports world was skeptical about the NFL’s debut on Netflix, considering the company’s substantial buffering issues during November’s Mike Tyson–Jake Paul fight. However, the world’s biggest premium streaming company appears to have pulled off its own Christmas miracle, delivering two games with very few issues and using the opportunity to sell audiences on its other sports priorities.
—A.J. Perez, Colin Salao, and Eric Fisher
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL doubleheader was notable on multiple levels, but the most significant part was what Wednesday’s games lacked: the buffering issues that plagued November’s Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing event.
The Chiefs’ 29-10 victory over the Steelers was the second-most- streamed live sports event on Netflix after the Tyson-Paul fight and was viewed in more than 200 countries, according to data provided by Netflix. While subscribers took to social media to post a few hiccups, including image quality, the issues were a proverbial whisper compared to the Tyson-Paul event 40 days prior.
The two game streams went so smoothly that they left Sports Twitter predicting it won’t be long before we see a Super Bowl on Netflix. That’d likely have to wait until the current rights deals expire after the 2033 season, unless the NFL exercises its opt-out at the conclusion of the 2029 season.
A league source told FOS earlier this month it was way too soon to forecast whether the NFL would trigger that opt-out.
Netflix reportedly paid $150 million to stream Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans as part of a three-year deal with the NFL. Beyoncé performed from Houston’s NRG Stadium at halftime of the second game and the streams remained stable through the Ravens’ 31-2 victory.
A third of Netflix’s global streaming audience had concurrent streams of the first game, and the Chiefs-Ravens game also surpassed concurrent viewership on any Christmas Day over the last four years, according to Netflix. The games were tracked by Nielsen and viewership data is expected to be made public later this week—unlike the Tyson-Paul event, for which Netflix reported internal data that showed the global audience peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, with a peak of 38 million concurrent streams in the U.S.
CBS produced the games, which drew talent for the studio show and in-game coverage from across the NFL’s other broadcasting partners, including Ian Rapaport (NFL Network), Nate Burleson (CBS), and Mina Kimes (ESPN).
“It was always probably smart to bet on Netflix getting these NFL games right both from a production technical perspective,” Fox Sports executive turned sports media consultant Patrick Crakes said. “Too much was made of the Paul-Tyson fight. It was truly a global event. The answers to not getting overrun were obvious and I was pretty sure they’d get these games across the line.”
Streaming media consultant and analyst Dan Rayburn told Front Office Sports the stream “was very good,” but he added, “latency is all over the place.” Rayburn said streaming latency—the amount of time between something happening live and when a viewer sees it—is based on some factors outside of Netflix’s control since hardware devices support streaming protocols differently.
Downdetector, a site that tracks user-reported issues, showed that complaints peaked as the first game was kicking off, but then trailed off. Between 30 minutes before kickoff of the first game and halftime of the second game, Downdetector received about 6,000 reports from Netflix subscribers. The site received 530,000 reports before the Paul-Tyson main event on Nov. 15.
Netflix used its NFL games to promote its sports-related and other content. Before the opening kickoff, Netflix dropped a 30-second Happy Gilmore 2 trailer. The sequel to the 1996 classic will debut on Netflix in 2025. The streaming giant also dropped a promotional clip for WWE Raw, which will be carried on Netflix starting on Jan. 6 as part of a 10-year, $5 billion deal.
SPONSORED BY VERIZON
The digital age demands connectivity that keeps up with fans’ expectations. In our latest white paper, The Connectivity Blueprint, we explore how Verizon and HPE Aruba Networking are transforming live events with cutting-edge solutions. From seamless Wi-Fi and cellular integration to real-time data analytics and personalized experiences, this partnership is setting new standards for fan engagement, venue operations, and revenue growth.
Discover how this game-changing collaboration is powering the next era of sports and entertainment experiences.
Read the full white paper.
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
The NBA was facing an uphill battle on Christmas against the NFL’s Netflix doubleheader, but Victor Wembanyama’s Christmas debut delivered a surprise gift.
The French star scored 42 points, third-most in a Christmas debut, during the opening contest of the NBA’s five-game slate between the Knicks and Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Wembanyama dueled with the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges, who dropped 41 points, as the two became the first opposing players to breach the 40-point barrier on Christmas since 1961.
The Knicks eked out a win, 117–114, in an exciting battle which was also the featured game on the league’s first Mickey Mouse-themed altcast, which was called Dunk The Halls and aired on ESPN2.
That game set the right tone for the NBA’s Christmas Day slate, which featured some of the league’s most popular stars like LeBron James and Anthony Edwards—but lost some luster with some teams underperforming to start the year. Only one of the top two seeds in either conference played on Christmas (the Celtics).
Four of the ten participating teams were sitting in play-in spots entering the night, and two were out of the playoff picture entirely. The four teams that played in Vegas for the NBA Cup earlier this month (Bucks, Hawks, Rockets, Thunder) were not in action.
The NBA’s ratings decline—down 18% this year—has been a prevailing narrative hovering over this season. There have been several hypotheses for the dip, from the NBA’s three-point-happy play style to the decline in overall cable subscribers driven by the rise and diversification of streaming.
The league’s Christmas viewership numbers have not yet been released, and they may ultimately not paint a positive picture given the competition, but Wembanyama’s performance is a glimpse into the next potential face of the league as stars like James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry enter their final years.
NBA viewership has been trending down this century, but its peaks, particularly in the Finals, have always come from the presence of major superstar talents—from Michael Jordan in the 1990s, to Kobe Bryant in the 2010s, to James and Curry throughout the last decade. The 11.31 million viewership number for the 2024 Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics is down about 42% from the average viewership for the four years the Warriors and Cavs faced off from 2015 to 2018, which featured both James and Curry.
LeBron James returned from a social media hiatus that lasted about a month (Nov. 20 to Dec 16)—and on Christmas morning, he had some thoughts about the NBA on Christmas. James, who played for an NBA record 18th time on Christmas, called for the league to bring back Christmas-themed jerseys.
“Not having Xmas day unis anymore really sucks! That was a great feeling walking into the locker room and seeing those,” James wrote on X.
The NBA last had Christmas jerseys in 2016, when the league’s uniform and apparel partner was Adidas. Ironically, Nike, with which James has a lifetime endorsement contract, took over as the NBA’s uniform partner in 2017. In October, the league signed a 12-year extension with Nike that runs until 2037.
Robert Deutsch/Imagn Images
Arguably no athlete in history has delivered on massive expectations the way Shohei Ohtani did in 2024. In the process of his monster season, he solidified his own uniqueness, reset baseball’s salary scale, further globalized the sport, and helped affirm the on- and off-field dominance of the Dodgers.
Just before Christmas 2023, Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with Los Angeles, a pact that not only surpassed most prior industry expectations by more than $100 million, but also shocked nearly everybody with its $680 million in deferrals until after the decade-long term.
Ohtani had already become MLB’s best player, starring both on the mound and at the plate as a rare two-way phenom while with the Angels for six seasons. The Dodgers deal was premised on his talent and fame hitting an entirely new level when paired with the immense resources of team owner Guggenheim Baseball Management.
One year in, those hopes have been realized—and then some. The Dodgers won their first full-season championship since 1988 in a five-game World Series win over the Yankees, drawing that event’s best domestic ratings in seven years. Ohtani, of course, was a central figure in that success, becoming MLB’s first player with 50 home runs and 50 steals in a season—while also attracting a Beatlemania level of fame.
“This game has been around for a long time, and to do something that’s never been done, he’s one of one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani’s exploits. “[There] couldn’t be a more talented player. He couldn’t be more humble. … It’s a win for Major League Baseball.”
Los Angeles again led the league in attendance as fans flocked to see the Japanese superstar, and fans back in his native country also tuned in to watch games in unprecedented numbers. Not surprisingly, Ohtani also had MLB’s top-selling player jersey in 2024.
“I always thought Shohei made a lot of sense for us,” said Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, moments after the Dodgers clinched that World Series win. “We hoped he felt the same way. There was that one awful Friday with the little plane in Toronto [sparking ultimately unfounded rumors of a free-agent signing with the Blue Jays]. We didn’t know any more than any of you did. But I think we were the best team for him, and I think he did also. … I think he made a really good choice.”
Since the title, the Ohtani-led success has only amplified the Dodgers’ hunger for more, as the team has continued to use the salary deferral strategy to add more free-agent talents such as pitcher Blake Snell. Ohtani also has helped set a new floor for large-scale deals in free agency, as just a year after his own history-making pact, the Mets signed Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal.
Even before any of Ohtani’s 2024 exploits, however, the season nearly derailed before it started. His longtime interpreter and close friend, Ippei Mizuhara, stole more than $16 million from him to help fund a debilitating—and profoundly unsuccessful—gambling addiction, to the point of participating in illegal gambling rings.
After Ohtani emphatically denied any knowledge of the conduct, U.S. attorneys conducted their own investigation and concluded the superstar was “considered a victim in the case.”
Mizuhara has since pleaded guilty in the case, is scheduled to be sentenced in January—and will likely soon be relegated to footnote status as he faces potentially decades in federal prison. But for a brief moment, the legend of Ohtani looked surprisingly vulnerable, particularly as Mizuhara claimed at one point that Ohtani was knowingly paying off the interpreter’s gambling debts, before ultimately acknowledging his guilt.
With the scandal in the rearview mirror, looking ahead, the Dodgers are coming strong out of the gate in 2025. The team will help open MLB’s 2025 season in Japan with a two-game set in Tokyo against the Cubs, an event that will represent a massive homecoming for Ohtani. “Tokyo is really our focus [internationally] right now for very, very good business reasons,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in November.
Ohtani is also planning to return to pitching next year after exclusively playing as a designated hitter in 2024 while rehabilitating from elbow surgery. That will add to any already-stacked Dodgers pitching staff and further burnish a two-way stardom not seen at this level in baseball since early parts of Babe Ruth’s career—and certainly not for this type of duration.
Earlier this year, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of Ohtani: “I think there’s a legitimate argument that he’s the greatest player ever to play the game.”
SPONSORED BY UBS
Since opening its doors in 2021, UBS Arena has become a premier destination for entertainment, music, and hockey in New York. As the venue’s naming rights partner, UBS supports meaningful community and sustainability initiatives in and around the arena and contributes to the moments that make UBS Arena such a special place.
Tune in to see some of the highlights from the past three years and the memorable moments UBS Arena is made for.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Heat ⬇ An hour before the tip-off of the first NBA game on Christmas, ESPN senior NBA insider Shams Charania reported the Miami star is seeking a trade before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Earlier this month, Charania reported that Miami was listening to trade offers for the 35-year-old, which received pushback from Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, who called it a “fabricated” report.
Happy Gilmore 2 ⬆ Netflix dropped a trailer for the sequel of the 1996 golf comedy ahead of the NFL’s Christmas Day doubleheader—which included a cameo from Chiefs star Travis Kelce. Read more from Front Office Sports reporter Colin Salao on how Netflix is capitalizing on the NFL’s audience.
Astros ⬇ General manager Dana Brown is looking at ways to rebuild his infield without longtime third baseman Alex Bregman, as contract negotiations between the two sides hit a wall. The team signed first baseman Christian Walker on Monday, another sign the Astros appear set to move on from the two-time World Series champion. Houston’s offer to Bregman was for six years and $156 million, which would already be a record price for the Astros, but the two-time All-Star is seeking around $200 million, according to MLB.com.
Indiana ⬆ The Hoosiers secured their replacement for starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke just days after the team was booted by Notre Dame in its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. Cal transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza is headed to Bloomington next season, according to ESPN, which ranked him as the No. 3 QB in the transfer market.
Do you think the first Netflix NFL games were a success?
Tuesday’s result: 56% of you said you planned to watch the Netfix NFL Christmas stream.
If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.
Copyright © 2024 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.
460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016
Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletters
