The NFL continues to expand globally under commissioner Roger Goodell, who has made growing the game worldwide a major priority.
That emphasis was evident in the league’s 2026-27 schedule release, which includes nine international games while also increasing the number of games played on holidays and holiday eves.
For decades, the NFL schedule largely followed a familiar formula: “Thursday Night Football,” the bulk of games on Sunday, and one — occasionally two — games on Monday night. Thanksgiving had long been the league’s signature holiday tradition.
Now, however, the NFL also features games on Christmas Day, Black Friday, Thanksgiving Eve, and New Year’s Eve. While many fans enjoy the added football, former Philadelphia Eagles star and current ESPN analyst Jason Kelce believes the increasing number of weekday and holiday games could come with drawbacks.
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During the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast, Kelce said he worries the NFL is slowly diminishing the significance of Sunday football — long considered the foundation of the league’s popularity.
“Sunday is the day of football,” Kelce said. “Sunday is where so many games happen and you gear your entire week around watching football on Sunday. It’s an institution at this point, the NFL playing games on Sunday.
“With every day that we keep adding in there, we’re getting away from that just a little bit. I think one of the reasons the game got so popular is because it was an event. Sunday is the NFL. Everybody set their week apart to tune into their games that were happening Sunday. I worry that we’re getting away from that just a little bit by building too many of this.”
The league is obviously still a massive success year after year in terms of viewership, and that likely is not changing anytime soon. However, the fan experience has become a bit more complicated, as many of these added holiday and weekday games are now tied to exclusive streaming platforms.
Services such as Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and Netflix have all secured rights to NFL games throughout the season, making it more difficult for some fans to consistently follow their teams.
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