Chiefs’ Travis Kelce defends NFL for increasing number of games during holidays
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Travis Kelce defends playing on holidays and likes primetime one-off games.
- Jason Kelce warns the NFL risks diluting Sunday’s traditional role by adding more days.
- The NFL released the 2026 schedule with a Christmas Eve game and a Christmas Day.
There is always a bit of tomfoolery on the New Heights podcast, and it’s one reason why fans love it.
But co-hosts Jason and Travis Kelce also have insightful conversations about football, and that was the case with the latest episode this week.
The NFL released the 2026 schedule last week, and the holidays will include a lot of football. Games are planned each day between Wednesday and Monday during Thanksgiving week. The NFL will have a Christmas Eve night game between the Eagles and Texans, then have a Christmas Day tripleheader. Oh, and Super Bowl LXI is on Valentine’s Day.
“We’re making a conscious decision to stay strong, be big in those windows,” Mike North, NFL vice president of broadcasting planning, told ESPN. “Fans vote with their remotes. They’ve shown us an interest in watching NFL games on Christmas.”
But Jason Kelce, the ESPN analyst and former Eagles center, worried that the NFL was moving too far away from what made it the nation’s most popular sport.
“This is the one thing that I feel like the NFL needs to hold on to, that I feel like we’re starting to drift away from,” he said on the latest episode of the podcast. “I don’t think we’re there yet. Sunday is the day of football, right? Outside of going to church in the morning, if you’re still religious and you do that, Sunday is like where so many games happen, and that’s what you grow up in. 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. And I worry that I think the game got big. One of the reasons it got so popular and big was because it was an event. Sunday is the NFL, and everybody set their week apart to tune into their games that were happening on Sunday. ... I worry that we’re getting away from that just a little bit by building too many of this (games on other days).”
Kelce added that Eagles fans are unhappy about the game on Christmas Eve, which worked out great for the NFL because it’s on a Thursday.
Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end, couldn’t understand why fans would be upset about a Christmas Eve game. Jason explained many people see it as family time when “presents are getting ready to be put under the tree by Santa.”
But Travis Kelce believes the Christmas Eve game will be a time for family bonding.
“I feel like Birds fans, and Philadelphians are gonna get excited for a game like that,” Travis Kelce said. “I don’t know why. Maybe I’m catching that wrong.”
Can you guess which Kelce brother has kids?
Travis Kelce loves holiday games
Travis Kelce, who is returning for a 14th NFL season, downplayed his brother’s concerns about games being on nearly each day of the week. Kelce noted the Chiefs only have four non-Sunday games (two on Monday and two on Thursday) this season.
One of those Thursday games is on Thanksgiving, and that makes Kelce happy.
“I think it’s awesome, man,” he said. “As somebody who’s played on Christmas, who’s played on Christmas Eve, or played on Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving, has played in a lot of like awkward short week moments, I think it’s fun. And I don’t think it’s as taxing as it may seem, because it’s the NFL. You’re living out your dream.
“If there’s a chance to play on a ... primetime game, which all these one-off games that aren’t on Sunday (are), I’m ... getting so excited for those opportunities because those are the opportunities you really get to show yourself.”
