Last Saturday night, Mike Tyson fought Jake Paul in one of the most anticipated boxing matches in recent memory. Paul won pretty easily, but the fight didn’t completely take center stage that night. Netflix, the streaming service airing the fight, struggled throughout the night, and viewers’ inability to stream the fight without issues on their platform became a massive storyline. So, what does this have to do with the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Well, as the NFL attempts to gain more of a stronghold on Christmas Day viewership, it has scheduled the Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs to play on Dec. 25. That game will be streamed by Netflix, which will be broadcasting the NFL for the first time.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio joined 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday morning and expressed some displeasure with Netflix. He has real concerns about the platform’s ability to stream the Steelers-Chiefs Christmas affair despite a report that the league is satisfied by Netflix’s assurances that its two Christmas Day broadcasts with go off without a hitch.
“Of course, the NFL is gonna support Netflix,” Florio said. “It’s too late to pull the plug, and they’re getting $150 million for those two games. I’d be very concerned if you’re not in the viewing area where they’re gonna have the game available on an over-the-air TV station. I’d be very concerned with something happening with that game, both games on Christmas day.”
The service did struggle, but there are reasons to be optimistic when it comes to watching the game. The Tyson-Paul fight on Saturday took place five weeks before the Christmas games. With that in mind, Netflix has plenty of time to iron out any issues.
It’s a massive game, and Netflix will need to get things right this time. The Chiefs are 9-1 and the Steelers at 8-2, both in the elite class of AFC. This game should have major implications on the race for the first playoff seed in the conference.
One thing is for sure, the audience will be massive. Last year, the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Chiefs in the same time slot on the holiday with 37.2 million viewers tuning in to that game. With both Pittsburgh and Kansas City having excellent seasons, a similar number of fans, or even more, could tune in with their eggnog.
