The smell of pumpkin pie wafting through the air, a Detroit Lions game flickering on the TV, and Uncle Bob arguing about Barry Sanders’ retirement. Thanksgiving football is as American as apple pie. Now, imagine swapping turkey for tinsel and the Lions for Patrick Mahomes. The Kansas City Chiefs want to turn Christmas into their personal showcase, aiming to plant their flag on December 25 like Babe Ruth calling his shot.

But the NFL isn’t ready to hand over the sleigh bells just yet. The Chiefs, fresh off back-to-back Christmas games, asked the league to make them a holiday mainstay alongside Thanksgiving’s Lions and Cowboys, per an April 2 report by The Athletic. But the NFL’s scheduling brass slammed the door like a goal-line stand.

“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,” said Mike North, the league’s VP of broadcast planning, on the It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast. “If, five years from now, Patrick Mahomes retires and they’re not the perennial division champion and in every AFC Championship game, I’m not sure we’d want to be married to a site.” However, Kansas City’s holiday hustle isn’t unfounded.

Their 2023 Christmas showdown against Pittsburgh drew 24.1 million viewers across NFL on Netflix and CBS, proving their star power. But the NFL prefers flexibility over tradition, rotating matchups to keep things fresh. A strategy that’s worked since adding a third Thanksgiving game in 2006. “We didn’t commit to a third site on Thanksgiving when we brought that back about 20 years ago,” North said.

“We’ve rotated that around. I’d imagine we’re going to keep rotating Christmas around, too,” Mike North added. Besides, the Chiefs’ plea is like trying to replace It’s a Wonderful Life with a Marvel movie. But the Chiefs’ global ambitions aren’t just limited to NFL on Netflix during Christmas.

League sources hint they’re frontrunners to face the Chargers in São Paulo in 2025—a move owner Clark Hunt endorsed, saying, “On playing international games, we’re willing to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself… We make the league aware every year that we would be delighted to play [an international game].” Yet, even Brazil’s samba beats can’t drown out the irony: A team craving holiday permanence might instead become football’s passport stamp.

Fan frenzy: Chiefs’ Christmas bid sparks cheers and jeers

Fan reactions to the Chiefs’ holiday push are as split as a referee’s downfield call. “Good, Chiefs will be irrelevant again soon enough,” scoffed one X user, channeling the vibe of a disgruntled Raiders fan. Others took shots at the team’s bandwagon appeal: “No one follows KC legitimately. They’re all bandwagon fans. you never saw a KC fan outside of the region prior to 2019,” joked another, nodding to Travis Kelce’s headline-grabbing romance. However, not everyone piled on.

“CHIEFS on Christmas? 🎄🔥 This could be a GAME-CHANGER! Imagine the ratings! 📈 But let’s talk stats: teams that play on Christmas have a 30% higher win rate. Coincidence? I think not! RT if you’re ready for some holiday football magic! 🏈✨,” argued a Chiefs loyalist, while a neutral fan suggested, “Smart business move. Dallas and Detroit blueprint.” Even Thanksgiving traditions got dragged into the fray: “The Cowboys & Lions shouldn’t permanently be doing it on Thanksgiving either. I’m not interested in either team.”

The NFL’s cautious approach mirrors baseball’s reluctance to fix the World Series schedule—a nod to the unpredictability of sports. As one fan quipped, “All I want for Christmas is to not have to watch the chiefs and Taylor Swift on TV.” Ouch! But love it or hate it, the NFL on Netflix experiment is here to stay.

With a 2025 Christmas tripleheader slated for streaming—including two games on Netflix—the league’s betting big on digital. But for Kansas City, the message is clear: You can’t Santa-tize the schedule. As Laura Greenwood once said, “Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.” The Chiefs? They’ll have to settle for being holiday regulars—not royalty.