The Kansas City Chiefs were walloped in Super Bowl LIX, but they will continue to remain in the spotlight.
The Chiefs have earned the right for top billing after winning three titles and making five Super Bowl appearances in the past six seasons — although the presence of Taylor Swift likely doesn’t hurt either. One of the consequences of their success is missing holidays and facing a slew of primetime games.
The Chiefs are slated to face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day at AT&T Stadium, per the NFL. The following month, Kansas City will host the Denver Broncos for a divisional showdown on Christmas Day, the team announced.
Chiefs will play primetime games on Thanksgiving and Christmas
Much like the Detroit Lions, the Cowboys have become synonymous with Thanksgiving football. Kansas City, as one of the league’s premier teams, is simply rotating into the Cowboys’ annual tradition of hosting a game on Thanksgiving Day.
While the players and coaches may not necessarily enjoy losing the holidays with their family, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt likely isn’t upset with the developments. Similar to how Detroit and Dallas have become staples for Thanksgiving, the Chiefs formerly requested to become a permanent fixture for the league’s Christmas Day games, The Athletic’s Nate Taylor and Daniel Popper reported in April.
Although Christmas has typically been dominated by the NBA, the NFL began to venture into the holiday in recent years. Last year, the NFL made gave exclusive streaming rights to Netflix for two Christmas Day games. This season, the league will play three games on Christmas — two of them will be streamed on Netflix again, while a third will be a part of Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” package.
The Chiefs have hosted games on Christmas Day for the past two years, and both matchups proved to be inflection points in their seasons. Although Kansas City suffered a shocking 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023, they rallied together after the upset and didn’t lose another game on their way to Super Bowl LVIII. Last season, the Chiefs captured the lead for the AFC’s top seed with a 29-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Day.
For the first time since 2022, the Chiefs will not open the season with a banner night at Arrowhead Stadium. Instead, they’ll kick off the 2025 season with an international game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil. Their home opener will take place against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 3.