Despite Christmas falling on a Wednesday, the NFL has scheduled two games.
The first game on Christmas Day will be at 1 PM EST and will feature two playoff teams. Kansas City travels to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers.
The second game on Christmas Day will take place at 4:30 PM EST and will also feature two playoff teams. The Baltimore Ravens take on the Houston Texans.
Netflix will air both contests and has released the on-air talent for the NFL Christmas games.
Below, we take a look at the on-air talent Netflix released for the two NFL Christmas games.
Netflix Releases On Air Talent For NFL Christmas Games
Netflix will air its first NFL games on Christmas Day. The two games feature four playoff teams and are both high-caliber games.
The on-air team comes from several NFL broadcast partners, which include CBS Sports (they are producing the games for Netflix), ESPN, NFL Network, NBC Sports, and Fox Sports.
CBS’ Ian Eagle will have play-by-play duties for the Steelers vs Chiefs game at 1 PM EST. He will be joined by fellow CBS analysts Nate Burleson and JJ Watt. Melanie Collins, another CBS Sports employee will share sideline reporter duties with Stacey Dales of NFL Network.
Noah Eagle, from NBC Sports, and Ian’s son will perform play-by-play duties for the 4:30 PM EST contest. He will be joined by Greg Olson of FOX Sports. Jamie Erdahl and Steve Wyche, both from NFL Network will be on the sidelines.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and rules analyst Gene Steratore of CBS will be on hand for both games.
From Los Angeles, Kay Adams (FanDuel) will anchor coverage. She will be joined by Drew Brees, Robert Griffin III, Mina Kimes (ESPN), and NFL Network’s Manti Te’o.
ESPN host Laura Rutledge will anchor coverage from Pittsburgh. She will be joined by brothers Devin and Jason McCourty. Devin works at NBC while Jason works at CBS.
Comedians Bert Kreischer and Nate Bargatze will also be a part of the coverage. Kreischer will be serving as “tailgate correspondent” and Bargatze is a special guest.
Did Netflix Go Overboard With Numerous On-Air Talent?
While the lineup consists of some of the best in sports media, this seems excessive for two NFL games.
A total of 22 on-air talent has been announced for just two NFL games.
Announcing our on-air talent for the NFL Christmas Gameday Live on Netflix! #NFLonNetflix pic.twitter.com/i1TA5pwuNA
— Netflix (@netflix) December 11, 2024
For two NFL games, a maximum total of 13 on-air talent would be needed.
A play-by-play announcer, a color commentator, and one sideline reporter for each game, a studio show consisting of one host and four analysts, and a reporter along with Gene Steratore would have sufficed.
Whether by not wanting to work on Christmas or oversight, Netflix did not include some talent that should have been on and could have easily cut back half of the on-air talent.
Some names that should have been included that were not:
- CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala
- ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky
- Athletic’s Dianna Russini
CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala lives in Pittsburgh and should have been chosen to be the sideline reporter for the Chiefs vs Steelers game. She shows how talented she is each week and knows the Steelers organization well.
With many analysts on the Netflix panel, Dan Orlovsky is one of the best analysts in sports media. Orlovsky is on ESPN frequently and shows how well he can break down film and plays. He is another name that was left off but should have been included.
Dianna Russini left ESPN and has made herself a force with The Athletic. She has broken many stories and has been one of the hardest working people in sports media. Giving her a chance instead of always going to Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport would have been a nice change.
