The NFL still reigns supreme over the NBA
Although in years past Christmas Day has been one dominated by basketball, this year saw a change with the NFL blowing the NBA out of the water in terms of total viewers. Viewership numbers reveal that the NFL had an average of 21.88 million viewers, while the NBA sat at just 4.14 million.
The most watched NFL game, a clash between the Dolphins and Packers, drew 25.92 million viewers, while the most popular NBA game, a bout between the Celtics and Bucks, had just over six million viewers.
I’m not surprised at all that the NFL brought in more viewers than the NBA, as the NFL is pretty easily the most-watched sport in America. Baseball does sit second, but with 45.8 million fewer viewers than the NFL — I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised by just how large the gap is.
Unfortunately for the NBA, it’s not going to be any better next year. NFL Vice President of Broadcasting, Mike North, announced that the NFL will play at least two games on Christmas when it falls on a Monday. And surprise, surprise, but Christmas will be on a Monday next year.
So, the next logical question becomes what does the NBA do?
It’s clear that they can’t compete with the NFL, but they also just can’t not play games on Christmas. A deal could potentially be made but after seeing these numbers, I doubt the NFL will be willing to make a deal and lose viewers.
Well, if there is one thing we can learn from this, it’s that football clearly reigns supreme in the United States. It’s not a surprising revelation but one that I’m sure has NBA executives displeased. To get out viewed is one thing, but a discrepancy this big is simply embarrassing for the league.
Next year should be a similar result with the NFL planning to have at least two games on Christmas. This means the NBA will have their work cut for them and will need to go to great lengths to avoid this embarrassment again. Scheduling better games and trying to schedule around the football games could help raise the number of viewers.
But if I’m being honest, as long as football is on, the average American is going to choose it over basketball every time. And I, unfortunately, don’t think that’s something the NBA can fix.
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