Charles Barkley wasted little time making headlines on Christmas Day, using the opening moments of ESPN’s NBA coverage to take a pointed shot at the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell for encroaching on what has long been one of the NBA’s signature days. Appearing on Inside the NBA, the Hall of Famer criticized the league’s decision to schedule regular-season games on Christmas. For decades, the holiday has been closely associated with the NBA.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games,” Barkley said on the broadcast. “We used to have this day to ourselves, but Roger Goodell and them pigs at the NFL always want to hog every day of the week now. Christmas is an NBA day.”
The comments were consistent with Barkley’s long-standing criticism of the NFL’s expansion strategy. Earlier this year, he labeled the league “greedy pigs” ahead of the AFC Divisional Round matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins, which marked the first NFL playoff game streamed exclusively on Peacock.
This season marked the sixth consecutive year the NFL has scheduled games on Christmas Day. Historically, the league played on the holiday only when it coincided with a Sunday or Monday. Those days were already reserved for regular-season games.
. Thanksgiving, meanwhile, has traditionally been the NFL’s showcase holiday, while the NBA has not aired games on Thanksgiving since 2010.
NBA viewership on Christmas last year rose 87 percent compared to the previous year. Even so, the NFL continues to outperform the NBA on a per-game basis, including on Christmas Day. This reinforces why the league keeps pushing into nontraditional windows.
Barkley hasn’t backed off his criticism of the NBA either. He has also publicly challenged the NBA over what he views as growing greed within the league. Last summer, as the NBA finalized its new media rights deals with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC, Barkley criticized players and owners for failing to prioritize fans.
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