The Broncos didn’t just get thrown into a Christmas game
Denver Broncos, Bo Nix | Jamie Squire/GettyImages
Much has been made about the Denver Broncos getting scheduled to play against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day in 2025, but it should be viewed in an incredibly positive light.
While nobody loves working on Christmas Day, the Broncos were left out of almost every big plan by the NFL last year. They threw the Broncos a bone when the schedule was released, putting Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans in the worst primetime slot you can get — Thursday Night Football. It was one of just two matchups the Broncos were given in a primetime slot at the beginning of last year, the other being a Monday night matchup against the Cleveland Browns.
The NFL clearly didn’t think much of the Broncos going into last season. They were not featured on Sunday Night Football a single time, which is the current benchmark in the league as that is their most profitable time slot.
Broncos land in one of NFL’s most profitable TV slots for 2025
The NFL has also seen an incredible and rising viewership on the recent Christmas Day games, no matter what LeBron James has to say about it. While James thinks that Christmas Day is the NBA’s day, the NFL ratings say otherwise. The audience on Christmas Day — in the US alone — reached roughly 65 million viewers.
Of course, Netflix were the ones having all the fun last year, so this year, the Broncos and Chiefs will be playing on Amazon Prime.
The Christmas games last season broke US streaming records, and that only figures to get better as time goes along.
The Broncos will have to hold up their end of the bargain by winning enough games to make that matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs matter, but putting the Broncos’ Week 17 matchup in Kansas City in the Christmas Day slot? That’s a huge sign of respect from the league after it appeared the NFL agreed with the pundits about Denver having a horrible roster last year.
Now, it seems as though the league believes the Broncos will be relevant enough to increase their already-stunning Christmas Day viewership. Bo Nix might need a raise, somehow.
