President Donald Trump recently spoke out about the growing number of National Football League games that are being pushed to streaming platforms. He may not want to hear the latest Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) NFL announcement with the streaming giant adding more games for the upcoming season.
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Netflix Lands More NFL Games
After airing two NFL games on Christmas Day in each of the past two football seasons, Netflix is expanding its lineup of live games for the 2026 season.
The streaming giant will air a total of five NFL games for the 2026 season and will be the home of the NFL Honors award show the week of the Super Bowl in February 2027.
Netflix will stream the following games live:
- Week 1 matchup: Los Angeles Rams versus San Francisco 49ers, Sept. 10 in Australia; the first-ever regular-season NFL game in the country
- Thanksgiving Eve: Green Bay Packers versus Los Angeles Rams, Wed. Nov. 25; the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game for the NFL
- Christmas Day: Netflix will stream two unannounced games on Christmas at 1 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET
- Week 18: Netflix will stream an unannounced week 18 1 p.m. game for the last week of the regular season
The NFL schedule will officially be unveiled on Thursday, May 14, with several unannounced games filled in. The week 18 game may be announced or unveiled at a later time, as that week features teams fighting for playoff spots and positioning, and the NFL and Netflix may want to wait to lock in a matchup.
Netflix also signed a four-year partnership extension through the 2029-2030 season. "Netflix will now be a part of the entire NFL season from September through February at the Super Bowl every year," the streaming company said.
Last year, Netflix set a record with an average of 27.5 million U.S. viewers on Christmas watching the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. A game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders on Christmas averaged 19.9 million U.S. viewers.
President Trump Speaks Out
In a recent interview, Trump criticized the NFL's decision to put more games on streaming platforms. The president argued that the NFL could be "killing the golden goose."
"They're making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less," Trump said.
The president said consumers will have to pay $1,000 a game. It was unclear what $1,000 figure Trump was referring to at the time.
Of the professional sports leagues in North America, the NFL is among the most fan-friendly for games on broadcast television. The league has partnerships with Fox Corp (NASDAQ:FOX), Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY) and Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) for games that air on Sunday.
The league's non-broadcast games currently include Thursday Night Football with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), the exclusive Netflix Christmas Day games and ESPN's Monday Night Football. ESPN is owned by Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS). Some Monday Night Football games are also carried on ABC, the broadcast channel owned by Disney.
The NFL is renegotiating its 11-year media rights deal currently in place with the partners above, outside of Netflix. The league could choose to put more games on streaming as more media companies and streaming companies bid for the lucrative rights to NFL games, which rank among the most-watched programs every year.
Trump hinted that his administration could intervene and take on the NFL over its streaming push.
Netflix Looks to Live Content
For Netflix, betting on live sports and live content is a play for keeping its subscribers on ad-free plans and growing its ad-supported plan business.
Live sports are one of the key areas where advertisers are spending money, counting on strong viewership during the event, unlike traditional TV shows that may get viewership split between live and on-demand viewing.
Netflix announced it reached the 250 million monthly active user milestone for its ad-supported plan at a presentation this week, as reported by The Verge.
The additional games will likely provide a boost to Netflix's overall subscribers and to its advertising revenue. The boost will also be split over several months with games in September, November, December and January.
Photo: Shutterstock
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