It may be hard to imagine, but there was a day when nothing but the church was open on Sundays and certainly nothing on Christmas Day; how things have changed. Now, even the NFL will host Christmas games.
News of the change came from the Wall Street Journal, which noted that despite previous statements from the National Football League, it has decided to schedule at least one game in on Christmas Day. And yes, they know that Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, a day not typically seen on the NFL schedule.
The Journal also noted that much like the NFL has with Thanksgiving, the League would very much like to establish more of a presence on Christmas. Perhaps one day, a Christmas NFL game will be as much a part of the Holy Day as it is now synonymous with Thanksgiving.
This is a direct contradiction to what the League has claimed in the past. In fact, as the outlet pointed out, in years past, the NFL has tried to pretty much avoid any and all Christmas-related activities.
However, in the past three years, the League has flirted with Christmas a bit more. And what they’ve found is that there is a huge potential to make more money if they take advantage of the Christmas holiday.
NFL executive vice president of media distribution, Hans Schroeder, told the Journal, “The fans clearly spoke. There’s a big demand.”
Additionally, it has been noted that the NFL has even considered adding in a Tuesday game here and there, should Christmas ever fall on that day.
Of course, this would be a major change for the players most of all. After all, unlike most of us who get to enjoy Christmas Day off with family and friends, it would mean these players would have to work on the holiday.
It might also mean a more punishing schedule.
Players have already expressed unease when forced to play on Thursday and then again on Sunday. Adding a Tuesday game into the mix would only complicate the schedule.
Now, the NFL has promised that should they go that route, those playing on a Tuesday or on Christmas this year will be players who last played their previous Saturday, which would match the current Sunday to Thursday turnaround.
As I mentioned, there once was a day, and not all that long ago, that this would have been unheard of.
In fact, it wasn’t until around the 1930s that Sunday sporting events, let alone Christmas ones, became commonplace.
The Philadelphia Athletic Historical Society explains that up until then, Sunday was and had always been a day of rest, the Sabbath, just as the Bible declares it to be. But then sports organizations began lobbying and pressuring lawmakers to relax such rules in major cities like Chicago and Philadelphia.
A new tradition was born.
And with it, we lose the reverence towards Christ that our nation and most of Western culture had been so accustomed to.
One hundred years later, we are so far removed from this that the largest sporting events a year will now take place on what used to be the holiest of days. And given the recent merger of the XFL and USFL into the UFL, which will bring us spring football, we could very well soon see an Easter game…
What do you think?
