NFL exec: League considers Chiefs fans when it comes to future KC Christmas games
The NFL is expected to release the 2025 schedule in roughly a month, and it’s already known that there will be a Christmas Day tripleheader.
It’s become an annual tradition for the NFL, and the Chiefs have played on the past two Christmases. Lara Krug, the Chiefs’ media and marketing officer and executive vice president of marketing, talked about how the team is embracing the holiday.
That’s not just by playing games, but it was the Hallmark movie and the claymation special. Christmas is a way for the Chiefs to reach fans around the globe.
“The holiday season is such a time when people come together,” Krug told The Star last year. “There’s traditions, there is family and friends. It’s a really global holiday and season, which is something that is very important to us in our kind of endeavor of becoming the world’s team and bringing fans together all around the world in Chiefs Kingdom.”
Chiefs’ Christmas hopes
The Chiefs’ global plans explains why the team reportedly asked the NFL to allow it to anchor the Christmas Day schedule going forward.
But Mike North, the NFL’s VP of broadcast planning and scheduling, said on the It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast that likely won’t happen.
“Sure, the league office would love for the Chiefs to host on Christmas every year. Thanks for volunteering, boys,” North said. “I’m not sure that’s gonna become a tradition quite the way Thanksgiving is. I mean, think about what it took for that tradition, right? The Lions since the ‘30s, the Cowboys since the ‘60s. We didn’t commit to a third site on Thanksgiving when we brought that back about 20 years ago. We rotated that around. I imagine we’re gonna keep rotating Christmas around, too.”
That may sound harsh to the Chiefs, but North had KC fans in mind when talking about not having a permanent host for that holiday game. The NFL doesn’t want to be a Grinch for KC fans.
And although I don’t believe North meant anything by it, he had an interesting comment about the future of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Both from the fan standpoint, I know the Chiefs are, raising their hands supposedly, but that’s a lot to ask your fans to come out every year on Christmas,” North said. “Certainly, while you’re good and you’re winning AFC West titles and fighting for Super Bowls, yeah, it’s an easy give. Five years from now, after Patrick Mahomes retires, and they’re not perennial division champions and in every AFC Championship game, I’m not sure we’d want to be, you know, married to a site.
“There’s been other teams that have raised their hands to become permanent hosts of things like Black Friday or Christmas. Thus far, we’ve avoided committing to something like that. Never say never. Let’s see what the next few years bring. But I don’t think we’re today, going to commit to a permanent third host for Thanksgiving a permanent host for Black Friday, or a permanent host for Christmas.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 8:45 AM with the headline "NFL exec: League considers Chiefs fans when it comes to future KC Christmas games."
