Netflix paid $150 million for the exclusive rights to the NFL’s Christmas Day doubleheader—and it didn’t take long for the streamer to leverage its sports-hungry audience.
On Christmas morning, before the first NFL game between the Chiefs and Steelers, Netflix dropped a teaser trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, the sequel to the famous golf comedy starring Adam Sandler which launched in 1996. The film will stream exclusively on Netflix in 2025.
The 30-second trailer showed the return of Sandler, Julie Bowen, and Christopher McDonald—three lead actors in the original film—but also featured Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce.
Adam Sandler has released the trailer to 'Happy Gilmore 2'—featuring Travis Kelce—set to release on Netflix in 2025 📺pic.twitter.com/QPOxAhVHKy
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 25, 2024
The trailer will air throughout the two Christmas games, which are showing commercials during game breaks—even for those who have paid for the ad-free version of Netflix. Trailers for non-sports Netflix films are also playing during breaks, including Back in Action starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx.
The NFL Christmas Day games are the streamer’s first dip into live-streaming games from a major U.S. sports league.
While Netflix has already streamed other live sporting events—including Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul last month—the streamer built its foundation in sports through scripted content and documentaries. Some examples include the movies Hustle and Uncut Gems, which were produced by Sandler, and the widely successful docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
