LeBron James defends NBA’s Christmas Day tradition over the NFL

LeBron James defends NBA’s Christmas Day tradition over the NFL

Similar to how the NFL does with three annual Thanksgiving Day games, the NBA does on Christmas Day with five games. Though since the start of 2020, the NFL has played on Christmas. This year, the league debuted two games on Netflix, one of the most popular streaming services globally.

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James–a huge NFL fan–stood his ground when defending the NBA’s Christmas Day tradition after Wednesday’s Lakers win against the Golden State Warriors.

“I love the NFL,” James said. “But Christmas is our day.”

LeBron James: I love the NFL. I love the NFL. But Christmas is our day. pic.twitter.com/yoKP0TSmHL

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 26, 2024

We don’t know the official numbers yet, but the NFL had a great Christmas with their Netflix streams.

Netflix says viewers from over 200 countries tuned into the Chiefs vs. Steelers game and nearly 1/3 of all active Netflix viewers globally were watching the game. Those are insane numbers. pic.twitter.com/tegZyjH67U

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 25, 2024

The NBA did well, too. But among the four major American sports, the NFL is king. No matter how good the product is, every year, they completely trounce the NBA, MLB and NHL in TV Ratings. You turn on any of the major networks, all they’re talking about is the NFL and quarterbacks–unless it’s one of the big market NBA teams, such as the Lakers or New York Knicks.

One could argue the NFL’s product isn’t as good as it used to be because of the lack of good coaching, development and quarterback play. To some extent, that’s subjective, but that hasn’t mattered at all. Football fans are going to watch football no matter what; the same can’t be said about any of the other three sports–at least to a certain extent.

The NBA’s ratings have been on the decline over the last decade. How much does that matter? Not much, since the league’s revenue continues to surge higher than ever and they just signed a record-breaking $76 billion media rights deal that will be in effect for over the next decade, starting in 2025-26.

Adam Silver acknowledges TV Ratings are down, says fan interest is not ‘lacking’

The NFL’s Christmas Day games were a disasterclass this year. But that didn’t matter, nor will it ever matter. It’s a money move, even if the product is horrible. It shouldn’t be a competition, but it is in some people’s eyes–including Roger Goodell’s.

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