Netflix has about six weeks to figure it out.
The streaming service’s first foray into airing a big live sporting event with Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul on Friday night turned into a nightmare as Netflix did not have the requisite bandwidth and viewers were livid over buffering issues.
Netflix will be airing an NFL doubleheader on Christmas, featuring the Chiefs vs. Steelers and the Ravens vs. Texans, games that will both have big playoff implications in the AFC.
As sports fans were encountering obstacles in watching Tyson vs. Paul, concern was already spreading on social media that Netflix might not be able to handle everyone who wants to watch the NFL on Christmas.
“This is a disaster for Netflix. They have no chance of successfully airing a Chiefs-Steelers Christmas Day NFL game based on this performance,” OutKick founder Clay Travis wrote on X.
Pittsburgh sports talk radio host Randy Baumann exaggeratedly imagined a grisly scene if Netflix had another streaming debacle on Christmas.
“If the Steelers Chiefs Christmas Day game on #Netflix looks like this there are going to be tables overturned with half eaten christmas hams all over western PA. Scalloped potatoes will be hurled at aunts and uncles. #BedlamInBlawnox,” Baumann wrote on X.
An NFL memes account posted a video with the caption, “If Netflix broadcasted NFL games,” which showed the play buffering and a subsequent error message in the middle of Jayden Daniels’ recent Hail Mary to Noah Brown to defeat the Bears.
Tone Digs, a contributor on “The Pat McAfee Show,” issued a warning to Netflix.
“It’s all fun and games tonight @netflix, but if you ruin my family’s Christmas because we can’t watch the Steelers… there will be real hell to pay,” he wrote.
Netflix is reportedly paying about $150 million to air the NFL double-header.
