This holiday, the NFL is giving us the gift of a Christmas Day Beyoncé performance.
The “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer is set to headline the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game’s the halftime show on December 25, after the Kansas City Chiefs play the Pittsburgh Steelers play earlier in the day. Both games will feature a special pre-game performance of “All I Want for Christmas” by the one-and-only Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey.
The two big Christmas Day games will stream live on Netflix, who told CNN via a representative that they’ve optimized their technology to assure a smooth viewing experience after the reportedly glitchy Logan Paul-Mike Tyson fight.
While it remains to be seen whether Taylor Swift attends the Chiefs game to support Travis Kelce, what’s for sure is that there will be a lot going on amid the festivities. Here’s how to watch and what to know.
How can I watch?
The Ravens-Texans and Chiefs-Steelers games will be both be exclusively streamed on Netflix for subscribers only.
Both games will also be available in each teams’ market on their local CBS station. For the Chiefs-Steelers game, local viewers in Kansas City can watch it on KCTV, and on KDKA in Pittsburgh. For the Ravens-Texans game, local viewers can watch it WJZ in Baltimore and KHOU in Houston.
Each game will also be available to watch on mobile devices through NFL+ in all markets.
What time should I tune in?
The Chiefs-Steelers game kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT and the Ravens-Texans game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. EDT/1:30 p.m. PDT.
When is Beyoncé performing?
You can catch Beyoncé’s halftime show during the Ravens-Texans game, which will kick off at 4:30 p.m EDT. A Houston native, Beyoncé will likely show some pride for the home team as the game is taking place at Houston’s NRG stadium.
The performance will mark the first time that Beyoncé will perform songs live from her hit album “Cowboy Carter.” According to Netflix, Queen Bey also has some surprises in store and is expected to bring along some special guests. “Cowboy Carter” was released in March and has gone on to earn 11 Grammy nods.
Beyoncé is also quite familiar with being an NFL halftime show performer. The Grammy-winner headlined the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans and joined Coldplay and Bruno Mars on the field during the 2016 Super Bowl show.
When is Mariah Carey performing?
Mariah Carey, another Queen, will also be part of the NFL’s Christmas Gameday event with a performance of her iconic holiday hit “All I Want For Christmas is You.” Carey will “bring her signature blend of glamour and Christmas cheer” in a pre-taped performance, which will air twice – ahead of both live games – according to Netflix.
The performance also marks a very special milestone as the song turned 30 years old this year.
How will Netflix prevent tech issues and buffering?
After what turned out to be a bit of a glitchy viewing experience for the tens of millions of people who tuned into Netflix’s livestream of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight in November, the streamer told CNN they’re taking steps to assure a smooth viewing experience for all tuning into the Christmas Day games.
A representative for Netflix told CNN that, based on what they learned from the Paul-Tyson fight’s livestream, they have made additional optimizations of their systems to improve the viewing quality and better handle the large-scale viewership that the NFL games are expected to draw.
