Here is the KC Chiefs’ claymation special, ‘A Kingdom Christmas Story — Hail Merry’

The reason why the NFL doubleheader on Christmas Day begins at noon Central is because the game will be watched by more than just fans in Kansas City and the United States.

Netflix will stream the game, and that means Chiefs fans around the world will be able to watch.

When the Chiefs’ creative team realized the team would play on Christmas in front of a global audience, the idea for a team-centric claymation short was born. “A Kingdom Christmas Story — Hail Merry” was released Tuesday on Christmas Eve on the Chiefs’ social media channels.

Lara Krug, the Chiefs’ media and marketing officer and executive vice president of marketing, talked about the genesis of the project.

“When the schedule came out in the spring, and we saw that we were circled for Christmas Day on Netflix, one of the things that I think our team was really excited about was this opportunity that really for the first time ever all around the world, fans are going to be tuning into a Chiefs game on one network,” Krug said in a phone interview.

“Obviously, here locally, KCTV-5 will have it as well. But the idea that everyone is all watching the game on Netflix is a pretty impactful thought when you think about how that’s never happened before. And so our team loved this idea of, how do we give Chiefs fans, or soon to be Chiefs fans, an opportunity to unwrap and, in our case, watch something in addition to the game itself, and knowing that the game really brings families together.”

The video features claymation versions of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, coach Andy Reid, tight end Travis Kelce, defensive linemen Chris Jones and George Karlaftis, running back Isiah Pacheco and cornerback Trent McDuffie.

You may have noticed that none of the players speak in the video ... and that was by design.

“There are no voices to make it global, which was really important to us, not only because of the Netflix audience and our YouTube audience, but also to find something that connects fans all around the world,” Krug said. “There are no voices, it’s just a beautiful soundtrack that overlays on the piece.“

Embracing Christmas

The claymation short is the latest Christmas-themed Chiefs event. The Hallmark holiday movie was released after Thanksgiving, the team’s Kingdom’s Greetings Christmas pop-up bar returned to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium this year and the team will play host to a children’s Winter Wonderland for season-ticket holders.

And, for the second straight season, the Chiefs are playing on Christmas Day.

“The holiday season is such a time when people come together,” Krug said. “There’s traditions, there is family and friends. It’s a really global holiday and season, which is something that is very important to us in our kind of endeavor of becoming the world’s team and bringing fans together all around the world in Chiefs Kingdom. And when we had the fortunate chance of now getting to play the first-ever Christmas Day game on Netflix ... We started seeing that there are a lot of opportunities to have Chiefs be at the center of kind of that most wonderful time of the year.

“And so we do want to build on that momentum, whether that’s expanding Kingdom’s Greetings for years to come, and playing games on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, where possible with the league. ... So there just seems to be so many reasons to build this kind of program and platform and momentum together. And certainly coming off of the Hallmark film this year, and that relationship with an iconic brand like them that lives so much in this season, and all coming from Kansas City, it just really feels like an opportunity for us to be part of the season and give Chiefs Kingdom fans as many opportunities as they can — whether that’s a game or something other — to celebrate.”