This holiday season brings excitement for sports bettors this year. What can you bet on in the month of December? There are some great choices, highlighted by the final full month of the NFL regular season as teams try to make the playoffs. Can the Kansas City Chiefs overtake the Pittsburgh Steelers for the top spot in the AFC? Will Tom Brady get Tampa Bay to the playoffs? Will the winner of the NFC East finish with a losing record? The NFL will share the football spotlight in December with college football, as the regular season concludes and bowl season kicks off.
The month of December will also mark the return of the NBA, as the 2020-21 season begins with the Los Angeles Lakers the defending champs. College basketball will also be in full swing in December, as all of the top teams will be in action.
December is also a great month for big fights, as Anthony Joshua defends his heavyweight title against Kubrat Puley and the UFC has events on a regular basis, including UFC 256: Figueiredo vs. Moreno.
Not to be left out when it comes to December sports betting is Champions League and Premier League action, the last two Formula One races of the year, PGA and European Tour events, plus the U.S. Women’s Open in the LPGA. Let’s look at what to bet on in the month of December at BookMaker.
December 2020 Sports Betting Schedule (by sport)
NFL
The NFL regular season is winding down with Weeks 13-16 of the regular season taking place in the month of December. Teams will be trying to make late season runs to qualify for the playoffs, while other teams will be trying to improve their playoff seeding. Here are some of the marquee games in the month of December in the NFL.
December 3-7 (Week 13 Marquee Games)
Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens – FOX
Cleveland Browns at Tennessee Titans – CBS
Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals – FOX
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs – NBC
Buffalo Bills at San Francisco 49ers – ESPN
December 10-13 (Week 14 Marquee Games)
New England Patriots at Los Angeles Rams – FOX
Kansas City Chiefs at Miami Dolphins – CBS
Indianapolis Colts at Las Vegas Raiders – CBS
Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills – NBC
Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns – ESPN
December 17-21 (Week 15 Marquee Games)
Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders – FOX
Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos – NFL Network
Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers – NFL Network
Kansas City Chiefs at New Orleans Saints – CBS
San Francisco 49ers at Dallas Cowboys – NBC
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals – ESPN
December 25-28 (Week 16 Marquee Games)
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints – FOX
Miami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders – CBS
Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers – CBS
Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks – CBS
Tennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers – NBC
Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots – ESPN
College Football
The college football regular season concludes in the month of December with a number of key games including Conference Championship Games. Bowl season also begins in December, with the first bowl taking place on December 19. Here are some of the marquee games for each week in the month, all of the Conference Championship Games and all of the bowl games in the month of December.
December 3-5 (Week 14 Marquee Games)
Alabama at Arkansas
Syracuse at Notre Dame
Ohio State at Michigan State
Clemson at Virginia Tech
Texas A&M at Auburn
Florida at Tennessee
Northwestern at Minnesota
Baylor at Oklahoma
December 10-12 (Week 15 Marquee Games)
Notre Dame at Wake Forest
Texas A&M at Tennessee
LSU at Florida
North Carolina at Miami, Florida
Wisconsin at Iowa
USC at UCLA
College Football Conference Championship Games
Friday, December 18
Conference USA Championship Game – CBSSN
MAC Championship Game – ESPN
Pac-12 Championship Game – FOX
Saturday, December 19
Big 12 Championship Game – ABC
Sun Belt Championship Game – ESPN 2
ACC Championship Game – ABC
American Championship Game – ABC
Big Ten Championship Game – FOX
SEC Championship Game – CBS
Mountain West Championship Game – FOX or FS1
College Football Bowl Schedule
Saturday, December 19
Frisco Bowl – ESPN
Monday, December 21
Myrtle Beach Bowl – ESPN
Tuesday, December 22
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – ESPN
Boca Raton Bowl – ESPN
Wednesday, December 23
New Orleans Bowl – ESPN
Montgomery Bowl
Thursday, December 24
New Mexico Bowl – ESPN
Friday, December 25
Camellia Bowl – ESPN
Saturday, December 26
Gasparilla Bowl – ABC
Cure Bowl – ESPN
First Responder Bowl – ABC
LendingTree Bowl – ESPN
Independence Bowl – ESPN
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – ESPN
Monday, December 28
Military Bowl – ESPN
Tuesday, December 29
Cheez-It Bowl – ESPN
Alamo Bowl – ESPN
Wednesday, December 30
Dukes Mayo Bowl – ESPN
Music City Bowl – ESPN
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic – ESPN
LA Bowl – ESPN
Thursday, December 31
Armed Forces Bowl – ESPN
Liberty Bowl – ESPN
Texas Bowl – ESPN
NBA
The 2020-21 NBA regular season begins on Tuesday, December 22nd with each team playing a 72-game schedule. The first half of the regular season schedule is expected to be released on December 1 when training camps begin. NBA preseason games will take place from December 11-19. The first half of the regular season will take place from December 22-March 4 with the All-Star break running from March 5-10. The second half of the season will run from March 11-May 16 with the Play-in Tournament taking place from May 18-21 and the NBA Playoffs running from May 22-July 22.
College Basketball
The 2020-2021 college basketball season began in November and will run through April when the NCAA Tournament is played. The month of December will feature all of the top teams in action, including Gonzaga, Baylor, Villanova and Virginia. Here are some of the marquee games in the month of December.
Tuesday, December 1
Michigan State at Duke – ESPN
Kentucky vs. Kansas – ESPN
Wednesday, December 2
West Virginia vs. Gonzaga – ESPN
Illinois vs. Baylor – ESPN
Saturday, December 5
Gonzaga vs. Baylor – CBS
Sunday, December 6
Villanova at Texas – ESPN
Tuesday, December 8
Creighton at Kansas – ESPN
North Carolina at Iowa – ESPN
Ohio State at Notre Dame – ESPN 2
Illinois at Duke – ESPN
Wednesday, December 9
Louisville at Wisconsin – ESPN
Michigan State at Virginia – ESPN
Sunday, December 13
Texas at Baylor
Wednesday, December 16
Duke at Notre Dame
Thursday, December 17
Kansas at Texas Tech
Saturday, December 19
Iowa vs. Gonzaga
Virginia vs. Villanova
Ohio State vs. North Carolina
UCLA vs. Kentucky
Tuesday, December 22
West Virginia at Kansas
Wednesday, December 23
Illinois at Penn State
UCLA at Oregon
Friday, December 25
Wisconsin at Michigan State
Saturday, December 26
Kentucky at Louisville
Monday, December 28
Maryland at Wisconsin
Tuesday, December 29
Pittsburgh at Duke
Wednesday, December 30
Virginia at Notre Dame
Thursday, December 31
Michigan at Maryland
Boxing
December is an excellent month of boxing action with a number of title fights and the month will also mark the return of action for Canelo Alvarez who will be taking on Callum Smith on December 19. Here are the marquee fights to remember for December.
December 5
Errol Spence vs. Danny Garcia for Spence’s IBF and WBC titles
December 12
Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev for Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles
December 18
Gennady Golovkin vs. Kamil Szeremeta for Golovkin’s IBF middleweight title
December 19
Canelo Alvarez vs. Callum Smith for Alvarez’s WBA “regular” super middleweight title and Smith’s WBA “super” super middleweight title.
UFC
The UFC has been extremely busy over the past few months, but it slows down a bit in the month of December with just three events. The big one will be UFC 256: Figueiredo vs. Moreno on December 12th. Here are the three UFC events for the month of December.
Saturday, December 5
UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Holland – ESPN 2
Saturday, December 12
UFC 256: Figueiredo vs. Moreno
Saturday, December 19
UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Chimaev
PGA
The PGA Tour doesn’t have a lot of action in the month of December, but there are still two events, the Mayakoba Golf Classic and the QBE Shootout. There is also a golf event that is not part of the PGA Tour, the PNC Championship, which is an event where a golf major winner teams up with a relative. A total of 20 teams will compete in that event including Tiger Woods playing with his son.
December 3-6
Mayakoba Golf Classic
December 11-13
QBE Shootout
December 17-20
PNC Championship
European Tour
The European Tour concludes their season in the month of December with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai from December 10-13. A number of top players will be in the field for this event, including point’s leader Patrick Reed. Here are the events on the European Tour scheduled in the month of December.
December 2-5
Golf in Dubai Championship
December 3-6
South African Open
December 10-13
DP World Tour Championship
LPGA
The LPGA doesn’t get a lot of attention in sports betting, but it will get a place on the December sports betting calendar with the U.S. Women’s Open taking place in Houston, Texas from December 10-13.
Formula One
The final two races of the Formula One season take place in the month of December with the Sakhir Grand Prix on December 6 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 13.
Premier League
The Premier League continues in the month of December with Matchdays 11-16. The highlight of the month is Boxing Day on December 26 with six matches, including Arsenal taking on Chelsea. Here are some other marquee matchups for the month of December.
December 6
Tottenham vs. Arsenal
December 12
Everton vs. Chelsea, Manchester United vs. Manchester City
December 15
Leicester City vs. Everton, Wolves vs. Chelsea
December 16
Liverpool vs. Tottenham
December 19
Everton vs. Arsenal
December 20
Tottenham vs. Leicester City
December 26
Arsenal vs. Chelsea, Leicester City vs. Manchester United
December 28
Everton vs. Manchester City
December 29
Manchester United vs. Wolves
Champions League
The 2020-21Champions League group stage will conclude in the month of December with Matchday 5 on December 1-2 and Matchday 6 on December 8-9. The Final 16 teams will be set and the Round of 16 draw will take place on December 14.
