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Associated Press

Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix’s NFL debut on Christmas Day.
Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with an almost 13-minute performance on Wednesday.
She surprised fans by bringing out Shaboozey to perform Sweet Honey Buckiin and Post Malone joined her for Levii’s Jeans.
The action on the field did not live up to expectations as the NFL showcased four of the AFC’s top five teams.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce exposed a glitch in Pittsburgh’s defence during Kansas City’s 29-10 rout in the first game.

The broadcast itself went off just fine, quickly becoming the second-most-popular live title on Netflix to date, according to NFL Media.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens led C.J. Stroud and the Texans 17-2 at halftime before Beyoncé stole the show. Baltimore finished off the 31-2 victory with Jackson resting most of the fourth quarter.
Mariah Carey opened the American football double header with a taped performance of All I Want for Christmas is You and then the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs trounced the Steelers to clinch the No 1 seed in the AFC.
There were no signs of any major streaming issues during the game after Netflix experienced minor blunders at the start of the pregame show. The broadcast opened with roughly 10 seconds of silence because it appeared studio host Kay Adams’ microphone was not turned on.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A MARIAH CAREY KICKOFF #NFLonNetflix pic.twitter.com/YWXbntRnyn
— Netflix (@netflix) December 25, 2024

Beyoncé’s live performance at NRG Stadium was supposed to be the biggest test for the streaming giant and it seemed to go off without a hitch.
Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and Kelce had eight catches for 84 yards and one score as the Chiefs (15-1) earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Steelers (10-6) have lost three straight games and may have to settle for a wild-card spot.
Jackson tossed two touchdown passes and ran for a score and Derrick Henry had 147 yards rushing and one TD to help the Ravens (11-5) move into first place in the AFC North, one game ahead of Pittsburgh.
Netflix agreed to a three-year contract in May to broadcast Christmas Day games. The NFL is expected to give the streaming service one of its biggest days since the site launched in 1998.

Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries could stream the games, marking the first time one outlet distributed an NFL game globally.
Netflix had problems streaming the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on November 14. The bout peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the United States. According to the website Down Detector, almost 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to and during the fight.
There were fewer complaints on Wednesday.
According to NFL Media, viewers in all 50 states tuned in within minutes of the pregame show going live and viewers from almost 200 countries watched the first game. Before the Ravens-Texans kicked off, Netflix reported that it eclipsed its peak concurrent viewers of any Christmas in the past four years.
The NFL was playing its first games on a Wednesday since the Steelers and Ravens were forced to play on December 2, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The only other time the league played on a Wednesday since 1948 was in 2012 when the Giants and Cowboys met in the season opener.


Beyoncé’s performance proves to be highlight of Netflix’s NFL on Christmas Day debut

Who is Caleb Williams’ girlfriend, Alina Thyregod – aka the ‘Danish Taylor Swift’? The Chicago Bears quarterback dated her in high school, and they reconnected years later

Meet controversial NFL star Aaron Rodgers’ brother Jordan: from playing and commentating on college football, to marrying The Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher … and that feud with his sibling

7 richest sports team owners: net worths, ranked – from the Mets’ Steve Cohen and ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with the LA Clippers, to Kering founder François Pinault buying Stade Rennais FC

NFL (National Football League)

Beyoncé performs with her daughter Blue Ivy during the halftime show for the game between Baltimore and Houston on Christmas Day. Photo: AFP

Post Malone joined Beyoncé for her song Levii’s Jeans during the show at NRG Stadium. Photo: AFP

The Chiefs’ Travis Kelce (right) scores a touchdown against the Steelers in his team’s 29-10 win. Photo: AFP

Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot spends Christmas Eve helping serve homeless at Lifeshare

Diogo Dalot with his donations to Lifeshare’s Christmas Project in the Manchester city centre. Photo: Facebook/Fabrizio Romano

Diogo Dalot tussles with Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski in their League Cup quarter-final last week. Photo: AP

Hong Kong footballer targets 2025 preseason return after ‘life-changing’ Australian surgery

Dominic Johns is now walking without the crutches that accompanied him for more than six months. Photo: HKFC

Johns’ HKFC teammates react after he suffered a serious injury against North District in May. Photo: HKFC 

Johns was named HKFC’s player of the year for 2023-24 after scoring five goals in 21 games. Photo: HKFC

Sport

Other Sport

The 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown crowd, but the on-field action featuring 4 of the AFC’s top 5 teams proved a disappointment


The 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown crowd, but the on-field action featuring 4 of the AFC’s top 5 teams proved a disappointment.


Beyoncé

Travis Kelce

Patrick Mahomes