The Baltimore Ravens have an unusual scheduling quirk in 2024 that even the NFL appears to regret. For the second consecutive year, the Ravens are slated to play on Christmas. Last year, they played against the San Francisco 49ers on the road, and this time, they will once again be away from home, facing the Houston Texans.
During an appearance on “The Season with Peter Schrager” podcast, NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North acknowledged that the league might have been a bit unfair to the Ravens by scheduling them for consecutive Christmas road games. North stated, “In retrospect, maybe asking the Ravens to play on the road on Christmas two years in a row maybe wasn’t …” before being interrupted by Schrager, as reported by Ryan Mink of the Ravens’ official website.
North elaborated that the NFL aims to schedule big games on holidays and prefers featuring top teams. Currently, the Ravens are among those top teams, although more consideration should perhaps have been given to the venues.
“We put our biggest games in our biggest windows. Those holiday tentpoles become such good storylines for us and such good results for our broadcast partners,” North added. “You’re going to find the good teams, the teams you think are going to be playoff relevant, in those bigger windows over and over and over again. We probably shouldn’t put the Ravens on the road on Christmas again next year, but excited to see what they do on Christmas this year – definitely.”
The Ravens are not the first team to play on Christmas in consecutive years; indeed, the Kansas City Chiefs are also in this situation. However, what sets the Ravens apart is that they are the only team without a home game during these two-year spans.
This isn’t the first time the league has made an unfortunate scheduling error. It’s probably safe to assume that the Ravens won’t be playing an away game on Christmas in 2025.