NFL will play on Christmas Day in 2024, despite being on a Wednesday

The NFL isn't letting go of Christmas Day, despite the holiday occurring on a Wednesday this year.

Previously, the league said that it wouldn't schedule games on Dec. 25 for the 2024 season because matchups aren't typically played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Yet the NFL's Christmas Day telecasts were notably successful last season, compelling a change on that stance.

The NFL's three Christmas games averaged more than 28 million viewers, ranking among the 10 highest-rated for the 2024 regular season, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"The fans clearly spoke," NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder told the WSJ. "There's a big demand."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said there will be two Christmas Day games this season, though games on Wednesdays will not be a regular occurrence.

Previously, the NFL has played games on a Wednesday only twice since 1948.

In 2020, a COVID-19 outbreak among the Baltimore Ravens resulted in their Week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers being postponed three times and pushed back six days from its original Thanksgiving Day date. The 2012 season opener was moved up a day because of a scheduled speech by President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

To address player concerns about rest and scheduling difficulties, the NFL is making sure that the teams scheduled to play on Christmas this season will have played the previous Saturday. That will provide the same three-day break that teams scheduled to play Thursday games receive.

With Wednesdays now a part of the NFL schedule, that only leaves one day of the week that the league has largely avoided. The Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings played on a Tuesday in 2010 because of a blizzard-postponed game, but how soon before a game is actually scheduled on a Tuesday?