NFL Black Friday football schedule 2025: Eagles, Bears to play in Amazon’s day-after Thanksgiving game

Football isn’t the first thing one thinks of when laying out their Black Friday plans. The NFL wants that to change, however.

For the third straight year, the league is turning its three-game slate of holiday matches into four, holding the final duel of the work week on Black Friday.

The NFL has shown little signs of relenting as it attempts to dominate the whole of the calendar from September to February. While such a pursuit doesn’t align with everyone’s preferences, it seems to have paid off handsomely for the league in terms of profit; the NFL generated more than $23 billion in revenue in 2024, per SportsPro.

Holiday fixtures, like the Black Friday game, represent a major boon for the NFL and its television broadcasters alike. So, who will take the reins for this year’s iteration of the match? Here’s what you need to know.

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Black Friday football schedule 2025

The 2025 season represents the third year that the NFL will hold a game on Black Friday. In 2023, the Dolphins routed the Jets, 34-13. The 2024 iteration of the bout saw the Chiefs vanquish the Raiders, 19-17, to keep their unbeaten start alive.

Here’s the Black Friday schedule, including kickoff time and live stream for the matchup.

Bears at Eagles

• Kickoff: 3 p.m. ET
• Live stream: Amazon Prime Video

The defending-champion Eagles will take the field on Black Friday when they host 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams and the Bears.

MORE NFL SCHEDULE RELEASE:

Why is there an NFL game on Black Friday?

The NFL doesn’t usually hold games on Friday. The almighty dollar is hard to ignore, however. In recent seasons, the league has shown a willingness to make the first day of the weekend a centerpiece of its end of season action.

In 2020, the Saints and Vikings dueled on Christmas, which fell on a Friday. The 2023 and 2024 seasons featured Black Friday clashes between the Jets and Dolphins and Chiefs and Raiders, respectively.

The Sports Broadcasting Act, drafted in 1961, has served as a deterrent from the league holding matches on Fridays and Saturdays. But that ruling comes with a caveat; the act only prohibits Friday and Saturday games until the second Saturday of December, opening the door for additional games during the holidays.

That doesn’t explain the league’s Black Friday spectacle, though. In that case, we’ll have to examine the finer points of the charter. The act doesn’t allow broadcasts to feature “all or a substantial part” of a game after 6 p.m. ET on a Friday. But if a duel is scheduled early — say 3 p.m. ET, for example — it’s fair game.

By holding the game earlier, the NFL more or less ensures it isn’t violating the Sports Broadcasting Act. As long as the matchup concludes around 6 p.m. ET, it shouldn’t draw too much rebuke from government officials.

Effectively, the NFL found a loophole to hold contests on Black Friday. With precious few athletic contests available for sports fans to watch on the day after Thanksgiving, eyes will be cast towards The Shield. NFL officials wouldn’t have it any other way.