U2 is coming back to an NFL halftime stage, 24 years after the band’s Super Bowl show in New Orleans. Netflix and the league announced on Tuesday, Oct. 20, that U2 will headline halftime of the first Thanksgiving Eve game in league history, the Green Bay Packers at the Los Angeles Rams on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The show is part of the band’s 50th anniversary. U2 formed in Dublin in 1976, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have won 22 Grammy Awards. Jesse Collins Entertainment will produce the halftime set.
One of the biggest bands on the planet. One of the biggest stages in sports.
— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2026
U2 takes the field at halftime on Thanksgiving Eve during Packers vs. Rams — November 25 at SoFi Stadium and LIVE on Netflix. pic.x.com/G4nJ19amr4
“There’s a reason U2 has headlined stadiums for decades: they don’t just perform, they deliver iconic moments audiences remember forever,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the announcement. “We’re thrilled that they’ll bring that same magic to the NFL stage on Netflix. It’s going to be an unforgettable night for football fans and Netflix members worldwide.”
Back at a Rams game, 24 years later
U2’s only other NFL halftime show came at Super Bowl XXXVI on Feb. 3, 2002, at the Louisiana Superdome, five months after the Sept. 11 attacks. The band projected the names of the victims behind the stage, and Bono opened his jacket to show an American flag sewn into the lining. It is still one of the most remembered halftime shows the league has staged.
The game that night ended with Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time ran out, giving the New England Patriots a 20-17 win over the St. Louis Rams and the first title of the Tom Brady era. So the band’s return to football also comes at a Rams home game, this time in Los Angeles.
A new night on the holiday calendar
The Packers-Rams game opens the league’s first three-day Thanksgiving stretch in Week 12. It is followed by the usual tripleheader on Thursday, Nov. 26 (Bears at Lions, Eagles at Cowboys and Chiefs at Bills), and the Broncos-Steelers game on Black Friday on Prime Video.
Netflix’s pregame coverage starts at 6 p.m. ET, and kickoff is at 8 p.m. ET, which is 3 a.m. Thursday in Cairo. The game is included in every Netflix plan and will stream in more than 200 countries, with commentary in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German. In the United States it will also air on local over-the-air stations in the Green Bay and Los Angeles markets, and fans can watch on phones and tablets through NFL+.
The matchup looks a little different than it did when the schedule came out in May. The Packers are 4-2 after beating Dallas on Sunday night, while the Rams are 2-4 after a home loss to Arizona and have lost Davante Adams for 6 to 10 weeks.
Netflix keeps raising the halftime stakes
Big-name halftime acts have become part of every Netflix holiday game since the streamer joined the league’s TV lineup:
- Christmas 2024: Beyoncé at halftime of Ravens-Texans, a show that later earned four Emmy nominations
- Christmas 2025: Snoop Dogg’s Holiday Halftime Party at Lions-Vikings, with Lainey Wilson, Andrea and Matteo Bocelli and HUNTR/X, the singing group from KPop Demon Hunters
- Thanksgiving Eve 2026: U2 at Packers-Rams
That Lions-Vikings Christmas game became the most-streamed regular-season NFL game in U.S. history. Netflix’s deal has grown since. This season it opened with the league’s first regular-season game in Australia, 49ers-Rams in Melbourne on Sept. 10, which averaged 18.5 million viewers. It also has two Christmas Day games, the Packers at the Bears at 1 p.m. ET and the Bills at the Broncos at 4:30 p.m. ET, a Week 18 game on Jan. 9 and the NFL Honors awards show during Super Bowl week.
That means the Packers play on Netflix twice in a month, and Netflix has not yet named a halftime act for either Christmas game. The league’s biggest halftime booking is still open too: the Super Bowl LXI headliner for Feb. 14 at the same SoFi Stadium has not been announced.
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