NFL planning first Christmas Day tripleheader

It was learned on Thursday that the full NFL schedule for the 2022 regular season will be released on Thursday, May 12, at 8:00 p.m. ET, and also that the league will "leak" so-called "select games" across the week of May 9. 

Three of those early announcements may serve as springtime Christmas gifts for diehard football fans. 

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, NFL vice president of broadcasting Mike North told Sal Capaccio of Buffalo's WGR 550 this week that the league will schedule a Christmas Day tripleheader for the first time in history. As is usually the case when Dec. 25 falls on a Sunday, the majority of that weekend's NFL action will take place on Saturday, Dec. 24. This time around, Christmas Eve will also feature a prime-time game on NFL Network.

"We’ll play one game on CBS in the afternoon, one game on FOX in the afternoon, and our regular Sunday night game on NBC," North said of the league's Christmas Day schedule. "Christmas, when it falls on an NFL game day, we’ve had a lot of success there, all due respect to our friends at the NBA." 

Additionally, the NFL intends on scheduling two or three contests for Christmas Day 2023, which falls on a Monday. 

"When we can, we will find games for windows on Christmas," North explained about future plans. 

In short, the days of the NBA controlling the Christmas Day sports calendar in North America have come to an end.