Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Don’t make too many plans for Christmas Day, as the green and gold are prime candidates to suit up for the NFL’s new slate of games. John Ourand of Puck News reported on Thursday that the NFL and Netflix are close to striking a deal for a two-game Christmas Day slate exclusive to the streaming service. Ourand credited “a bevy of sources” on the information and stated that one reason for the league’s delayed schedule announcement was due to this “high-stakes negotiation.” Netflix has been dabbling in live events recently, with the roast of Tom Brady being a fresh example. The company will also stream another sporting event, a fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, this summer. So what does this mean for the Green Bay Packers? Well, first of all, it’s clear that the NFL wants to take Christmas from the NBA. Christmas lands on a Wednesday this year, which means that four teams would be playing a highly irregular in-season schedule near the end of the year if Ourand’s reporting is correct. As a reminder, the NFL has only played consecutive Christmas Day games since 2020. In two of the last three years, though, the Packers were major draws on Christmas. In 2021, the Packers hosted the Cleveland Browns at Lambeau Field for a game that was broadcast on both FOX and the NFL Network. The following year, Green Bay traveled to Miami to face the Dolphins on FOX. A Christmas Day slate is the first new addition to the NFL schedule since last year’s Black Friday package for Amazon Prime Video. The New York Jets were a big draw for the later package, as New York is the largest market in the country and Amazon actively tried to combat brick-and-mortar shopping on Black Friday by directing users to profile-specific advertising during the game. Netflix isn’t in the business of pushing products to people, beyond the subscriptions they provide. You’d think that they would simply want major fan bases involved in these games and that the NFL would be willing to give it to them if it’s monetarily worth enough money to push the schedule release back an extra week. If you look at any list of fan base metrics, the Packers rank near the top — making them a prime candidate for being selected to represent the league on Christmas. Heck, it’s why Green Bay is making the trip to Brazil in Week 1 for the league’s first-ever game in South America. So keep an eye out for the news this upcoming week, as the NFL schedule release is expected to come out on Thursday. Between now and then, a decision will need to be made about the Christmas Day slate and the potential Netflix deal. Just don’t be shocked if the Packers — who rank only second to the Dallas Cowboys in Christmas games played in NFL history — get tapped on the shoulder for this one. https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2024 ... edule-2024
