NFL Xmas Day 2025: Can NFL players refuse to play on Christmas Day?
First played in the NFL back in 1971, Christmas games have become a regular occurrence in recent years.
For the sixth year in a row, there will be NFL action on Christmas Day, with a trio of matchups on the Yuletide slate for 2025. And football fans can expect more of the same in seasons to come. In an interview this spring, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the Pat McAfee Show: “I think we will clearly have three games [on Christmas Day] every year.”
A brief history of the NFL’s Christmas games
Before 2020, the NFL had added Christmas games to the league’s schedule no more than intermittently. Unlike Thanksgiving Day games - which have been played every year since the 1940s - it was not an annual fixture.
The NFL first held a Christmas Day clash in 1971, when the league was forced to schedule two divisional playoff games on Dec. 25. Christmas football wouldn’t happen again until 1989, and, for the next three decades, it was an off-and-on feature of the regular season.
The 1990s witnessed just four Christmas Day games, and in the first 20 seasons of the 21st century, there were 11 campaigns without Yuletide football. In all, only 21 games were played on Dec. 25 over the half a century that followed the first Christmas game.
In recent years, however, it has become a yearly event. 2019 was the last season without Christmas Day football, and since 2021, there have been at least two matchups on the Dec. 25 schedule each year.
How do people feel about NFL Christmas Day games?
It’s interesting to note that while many American football fans enjoy watching the game while gathered with Yuletide spirit, the schedule has often drawn the ire of many, as critics accused the games of wreaking havoc on Christmas dinners around the nation.
Additionally, the league was also criticized by some for an apparent intrusion on a traditional religious and family holiday. Indeed, a Kansas state legislator once proposed a bill to ban the scheduling of future games on December 25.
Can players refuse to play?
While there is no definitive answer on whether or not players can opt out of the Christmas Day games, they are, of course, under contract. In keeping with that, players are generally only exempt from taking the field if injured or have otherwise invoked some special exemption. While the Christmas slate of games has sometimes come in for heavy criticism, players, coaches, and staff are understandably always present and ready to go come game day.
Christmas Day 2025 - NFL schedule and how to watch:
Cowboys vs Commanders
- Time: 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT
- How to watch: Netflix
Lions vs Vikings
- Time: 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT
- How to watch: Netflix
Broncos vs Chiefs
- Time: 8:15 p.m. ET/5:15 p.m. PT
- How to watch: Amazon Prime Video
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