Is It OK to Watch Seven Hours Of Football on Christmas Day?

The mighty NFL continues to stake out Christmas Day as its territory.

- JASON GAY

Christmas is upon us, and everyone knows that nothing captures the spirit of the season better than silently hunkering in a dark room watching seven hours of NFL football—on a Wednesday, no less.

Sorry to Santa, Rudolph, and the rest of the caribou delivery crew: the mighty NFL continues to stake out Dec. 25 as its territory, stirring worrisome competition for elves, pastors, carolers and anyone hoping to have a thoughtful holiday without the television blaring in another room. It’s Grinchy to the NBA, too, which has long claimed the day for hoops.

The industry-rattling wrinkle to this year’s Christmas NFL package is that it’s streaming on Netflix. That’s right: The cinephile’s haven of “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma” and “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness” is jumping into the NFL business to show not one but two NFL games: Chiefs at the Steelers (1 p.m. ET) and Ravens at the Texans (4:30 p.m.).

This is a seismic pairing: the nation’s most popular sport joining forces with Earth’s digital entertainment colossus. It also means that if you haven’t invited your parents over, you are going to spend 40 minutes on the phone explaining why they can’t watch the game on regular broadcast TV.