Beyonce to Perform at NFL Halftime Show on Christmas Day
The Queen Bey is coming to the NFL on Christmas Day! In what’s expected to be the first of a long-standing tradition, the NFL announced that it would have a game exclusively broadcast on Netflix on Christmas Day 2025.
While there was already plenty of attention surrounding the game, the NFL always looks for a way to make a splash. There’s a reason that it’s the most popular of the big four sports in the United States.
After weeks of teasing who the halftime performance was going to be, the league announced that Beyonce would be performing at halftime of one of the games. To make things even better, the 32-time Grammy winner will be performing in her hometown of Houston, Texas.
Beyonce to Perform in Houston on Christmas Day
Beyonce is certainly no stranger to the NFL stage, as she’s performed at a pair of Super Bowl halftime shows in 2013 and 2016. However, this performance will undoubtedly mean even more to her than her previous appearances, as it will be in her hometown of Houston Texas.
This year has been a rousing success for Beyonce, which comes as no surprise. Grammy nominations were announced last week, and Beyonce, who has won more Grammys (32) than any other female performer in history, is up for 11 awards in 2025. On the heels of her Cowboy Carter album, which broke numerous records, Beyonce is expected to bring her country flair to Houston’s NRG Stadium.
Speaking of Cowboy Carter, that album has been at the center of a lot of discussion as of late. Last week, the Country Music Association (CMA) held its annual award show in Nashville, Tennessee. While many people expected Beyonce to not only appear at the show but to win multiple awards, she was shockingly shut out of all categories. There’s been plenty of debate surrounding the album since it dropped.
Country stations across the US caught plenty of backlash for not playing the album, which soared to the top of the iTunes charts on its release. However, those stations said that they were never sent the album from Beyonce’s record label.
To further muddy the waters, Beyonce announced that she never intended Cowboy Carter to be a “country album,” but instead, it was to be a Beyonce album that paid homage to the impact that African Americans had on country music, and her own musical upbringing in Texas, a state rich in country music history.
While the CMAs didn’t involve Cowboy Carter, the Grammys certainly did. If Beyonce wins any of the awards that she’s nominated for, she’ll further the gap between herself and Sir Georg Solti, a classical conductor, who won 31 Grammys.
In 2013, Beyonce made her first Super Bowl appearance as a headliner when she performed at halftime. During that performance, she brought out Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, who she was part of Destiny’s Child with. In 2016, she performed alongside Coldplay and Bruno Mars in a halftime show that is still discussed among the best that the biggest stage in sports has ever seen.
It remains to be seen what Beyonce will have in store for NFL fans on Christmas Day. However, the success of Cowboy Carter means that we’re likely to see a nod to the country music history that is so rich in Texas.
What Game is Beyonce Performing at on Christmas Day?
Christmas Day has typically been utilized by the NBA to feature some of its hottest stars. For years, the National Basketball Association has crafted its schedule around putting the biggest stars in games on December 25.
While the NFL has always had games on Christmas Day, they were usually not so careful with the scheduling. In fact, for decades, the NFL only played on Christmas Day when it fell on a Sunday or Monday, with an occasional Saturday game during the postseason.
Fans have been able to enjoy the NFL on Christmas Day sporadically in the 2000s. The league had two games on December 24 in 2004 and 2006 before shelving the idea for years. In 2016 and 2017, the NFL returned to Christmas Day scheduling, putting a pair of games on Christmas in both of those years. This happened again in 2021.
The 2021 Christmas Day games were such a success that the NFL quickly announced that they were going to up the ante, scheduling three Christmas Day games for 2022 and 2023. For 2024, the league did scale back its Christmas Day operations, returning to the previous pattern of only having two games.
In another major move that falls in line with something the league has been doing more of as of late, these games will only air on Netflix. It will be the streaming platform’s first foray into broadcasting live football.
At 1 PM EST, the Pittsburgh Steelers will host Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. There were rumblings of the league trying to schedule Taylor Swift to perform at halftime for that game, as she’s a Pennsylvania native who is now dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. That did not come to fruition.
Christmas Day 2024 will mark the third Christmas Day appearance in team history for the Steelers, while the Chiefs will be playing their fifth Christmas Day game.
Beyonce will be performing during halftime of the second game, which is slated to kick off at 4:30 PM EST, as the Houston Texans, led by CJ Stroud, will play host to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and the high-powered Baltimore Ravens.
The Baltimore Ravens will be making their fourth appearance on Christmas Day this year, while this will mark the second time that the Houston Texans have played a game on December 25.
What to Expect
While football fans will be tuned in to see the action, it’s safe to assume that Beyonce’s fans, who are some of the most loyal in the music industry, will be glued to their TVs for the evening game.
Netflix recently aired the fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which reportedly brought in 60 million viewers, though the streaming platform dealt with widespread issues that caused viewers from around the world to report lagging and connection issues.
Netflix has assured fans that it will be ready to handle the number of viewers who are likely to be tuned in for the on-field action and what is likely to be a historic performance from Beyonce.