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

Update (November 6): This article has been updated with the latest information about major professional and college sporting events during the 2026 holiday season.

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 preview of all of the important sports moments happening during the 2026-27 holiday season.

 

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NFL Thanksgiving Day Games 2026: 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 2026, the NFL Thanksgiving Day games fall on Thursday, November 26, beginning with a Bears-Lions rivalry game at 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS and followed by the Cowboys hosting the Philadelphia Eagles at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The third NFL Thanksgiving game sends the Kansas City Chiefs to face the Buffalo Bills at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. To top off the festivities, the Cowboys and Bills games have been paired with halftime performances by Miranda Lambert and Goo Goo Dolls, respectively.

On November 27, the NFL Black Friday game will feature the Denver Broncos vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers at 3:00 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

NBA Christmas Day Game 2026: Schedules & Must-Watch Matchups

 

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Christmas Day has been a big deal for the NBA for a very long time (though no NBA games are played on Christmas Eve). 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, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET with the defending NBA champion New York Knicks hosting the San Antonio Spurs in a rematch of the 2026 NBA Finals. An afternoon of even more action will ensue when the Miami Heat visit the Boston Celtics at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Later, 76ers vs. Lakers tips off at 5:00 p.m. ET, followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves at 8:00 p.m. ET. Finally, the nightcap puts the Nuggets at the Warriors at 10:30 p.m. ET.

NFL Christmas Day Games 2026: Holiday Football Highlights

 

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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 2020, the league has made a point of putting at least one game on December 25. (The NFL also has one game on Christmas Eve this year: the Houston Texans at the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, December 24, at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video.)

In 2026, lucky for fans, there will be a Christmas Day tripleheader on Friday, December 25. Two games will air on Netflix, with the third airing on FOX.

The action begins at 1:00 p.m. ET when the historic Packers-Bears rivalry adds another holiday showdown to the books. You can watch the Green Bay Packers at the Chicago Bears at 1:00 p.m. ET on Netflix.

The second game of the day sends the Buffalo Bills to the Denver Broncos. You can watch the Buffalo Bills at the Denver Broncos at 4:30 p.m. ET on Netflix.

For the final game of the NFL’s Christmas Day slate, the Rams visit the Seahawks in primetime with kickoff set at 8:15 p.m. ET. You can watch the Los Angeles Rams at the Seattle Seahawks at 8:15 p.m. ET on FOX.

But that’s not all of the Christmas NFL action. The league has also scheduled a game one day prior on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2006. It will feature the Houston Texans playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Pennsylvania at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

NHL Winter Classic 2027: A New Year’s Tradition

In 2026, the NHL Winter Classic is set to take place on New Year’s Eve. The Utah Mammoth will host the Colorado Avalanche, with the teams battling outside at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the home of the University of Utah’s football team, in Salt Lake City on December 31, 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). The 2027 edition moves up to New Year’s Eve. 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: 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. The 2026 College Football Playoff bracket will be revealed on Sunday, December 6. The 12 teams that meet the College Football Playoff criteria will be seeded and then play the schedule as follows:

• No. 1 seed: TBD
• No. 2 seed: TBD
• No. 3 seed: TBD
• No. 4 seed: TBD
• No. 5 seed: TBD
• No. 6 seed: TBD
• No. 7 seed: TBD
• No. 8 seed: TBD
• No. 9 seed: TBD
• No. 10 seed: TBD
• No. 11 seed: TBD
• No. 12 seed: TBD

First round

Friday, December 18, and Saturday, December 19

• Matchups TBD (hosted by the higher seeds)

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, December 30

• TBD (Fiesta Bowl @ State Farm Stadium)

Friday, January 1

• TBD (Cotton Bowl @ AT&T Stadium)
• TBD (Peach Bowl @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
• TBD (Rose Bowl @ Rose Bowl Stadium)

Semifinals

Thursday, January 14

• TBD (Orange Bowl @ Hard Rock Stadium)

Friday, January 15

• TBD (Sugar Bowl @ Caesars Superdome)

National Championship

Monday, January 25

• TBD @ Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada

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 2026-27 men’s college basketball season, the New Year’s slate includes in-conference battles like UConn at Butler on December 31 and Michigan State at Nebraska on January 2.