Holiday Sports Preview: Must-Watch NBA, NFL, NHL & NCAA Games

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and that means sports are taking center stage.

November, December and January involve some of the biggest annual sporting events, including vital NFL games as the end of the regular season approaches and the traditional multiple NBA clashes taking place on Christmas Day. There’s also New Year’s Day college football bowl and playoff games, and outdoor NHL matchups.

Here’s a rundown of all of the important sports moments happening during the 2025-26 holiday season.

NFL Thanksgiving Day Games 2025: Schedules & Must-Watch Matchups

To many sports fans, gathering together to watch the NFL’s three annual Thanksgiving Day games is just as important as the turkey itself. Since 1920, the holiday sports schedule has kicked off with a Thanksgiving football slate that now features annual games for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys as well as a primetime matchup with no fixed teams. Stuffed with so many legendary Thanksgiving moments, the NFL expanded the tradition with a single Black Friday game starting in 2023.

In 2025, the NFL Thanksgiving games fall on Thursday, November 27, beginning with a Lions-Packers rivalry game at 1:00 p.m. ET and followed by the Cowboys hosting the Kansas City Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. ET. The third NFL Thanksgiving game pits AFC North rivals the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens at 8:20 p.m. ET. To top off the festivities, each game has been paired with halftime performances by Jack White, Post Malone and Lil Jon, respectively.

On November 28, the NFL Black Friday game will feature reigning Super Bowl champs the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears at 3:00 p.m. ET.

NBA Christmas Day Game 2025: Schedules & Must-Watch Matchups

Christmas Day has been a big deal for the NBA for a very long time. Dating all the way back to 1947, the league has played games on December 25. This year, there will be five NBA Christmas games, and they will feature some of the best teams and biggest names the sport has to offer.

The festivities will kick off on December 25, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. ET with an Eastern Conference battle between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. An afternoon of even more star-studded action will ensue when Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the 2025 NBA Champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Warriors vs. Mavericks – featuring several of the league’s brightest stars, including Golden State’s Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and Dallas’ trio of No. 1 draft picks in Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and 2025 top-pick Cooper Flagg – tips off at 5:00 p.m. ET. Later, LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers take on Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets at 8:00 p.m. EST. Finally, the nightcap game puts the Nuggets-Timberwolves rivalry on full display at 10:30 p.m. ET.

NFL Christmas Day Games 2025: Holiday Football Highlights

Scheduling games on Christmas Day was not an annual occurrence for the NFL before 2020. For most of the league’s history, an occasional game would be played on Christmas Day if the holiday happened to fall on a typical NFL game day like Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

But as of five years ago, the league has made a point of putting at least one game on December 25. In 2025, lucky for fans, there will be a tripleheader offering a mix of heated rivalries and high-stakes playoff implications. Two games will air on Netflix, with the third airing on Prime Video.

The action begins at 1:00 p.m. ET when the historic Commanders-Cowboys rivalry adds another epic holiday showdown to the books after facing off on Thanksgiving Day 10 times. You can watch the Dallas Cowboys at the Washington Commanders at 1:00 p.m. ET on Netflix.

The second game of the day kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET and features the NFC North’s Lions-Vikings rivalry. You can watch the Detroit Lions at the Minnesota Vikings at 4:30 p.m. ET on Netflix.

For the final game of the NFL’s Christmas Day slate, the Chiefs-Broncos rivalry will play out over primetime with kickoff set at 8:15 p.m. ET. You can watch the Denver Broncos at the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

NHL Winter Classic 2026: A New Year’s Tradition

In 2026, the NHL Winter Classic is set to take place at the beginning of January. The 17th edition of the NHL Winter Classic will include reigning Stanley Cup winners the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers, with the teams battling outside at loanDepot Park, the home of MLB’s Miami Marlins, on January 2, 2026.

In the past, the Winter Classic has mostly been played on New Year’s Day (barring the three occasions in which January 1 fell on a Sunday). Although the 2025 Winter Classic was held in the previous calendar year from its name, the 2026 edition returns to its traditional post-New Year’s Day timeslot. The game is normally held at a baseball or football stadium.

While this is the NHL’s premier outdoor game planned around the holidays, it is not the league’s only outdoor game. The NHL also hosts the Stadium Series, which typically takes place at the end of January or beginning of February and occasionally features multiple games taking place at one outdoor stadium in the United States, as well as the NHL Heritage Classic, which is played in Canada.

College Sports on New Year’s Day 2026: Bowl Games & Beyond

Both college football and college basketball take center stage about a week after Christmas, just in time for the new year.

For college football, this time of year is as exciting as it gets. The playoffs are in full swing leading up to Christmas Day and culminate at the end of January with the National Championship. Before the College Football Playoff bracket is revealed in early December, check out the current College Football Playoff criteria and tentative 2026 CFP schedule.

First round

Friday, December 19

• TBD

Saturday, Dec. 20

• TBD

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, Dec. 31

• Cotton Bowl @ AT&T Stadium, 7:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, Jan. 1

• Orange Bowl @ Hard Rock Stadium, 12:00 p.m. ET
• Rose Bowl @ Rose Bowl Stadium, 4:00 p.m. ET
• Sugar Bowl @ Caesars Superdome, 8:00 p.m. ET

Semifinals

Thursday, Jan. 8

• Fiesta Bowl @ State Farm Stadium, 7:30 p.m. ET

Friday, Jan. 9

• Peach Bowl @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 7:30 p.m. ET

National Championship

Monday, Jan. 19

• Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, 7:30 p.m. ET

For college basketball, the time to shine is in March, when March Madness takes over the sports world. But December and January are vital as well. During the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season, the New Year’s slate includes in-conference battles like St. John’s vs. Georgetown on December 31 and USC vs. Michigan on January 2.