Remember when Christmas Day used to be about family and gifts? A piping hot cocoa to start the day with a glass of wine to finish it. Gifts, family, food, fun. Do you also remember when sports on Christmas Day used to be minimal? Now, one in four Americans surround their Christmas Day planning around sports. Specifically the NBA and the NFL. Talk about a lump of coal for ol’ Kris Kringle.
Since 2021, the NFL has staged at least two regular-season games every Christmas. The games began airing on traditional broadcast networks such as FOX and CBS, but have since shifted mainly to Netflix. This year, the NFL is presenting three games on the annual holiday that has long been dominated by the NBA. That has led to observers questioning whether the NBA should shift away from the holiday it has long claimed as its own. In reality, any shift would be a giant mistake.
Stats Don’t Lie
Let’s start with viewership.
Last year, ESPN/ABC’s five-game slate of NBA action drew an average of 5.5 million viewers. The top stars were prominently featured. Start with the Knicks out East, mix in Steph Curry and defending league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and wrap things up with Nikola Jokic out West. From noon until well after midnight, NBA basketball was live on television. What we all have come to expect annually.
The NBA has had five games every Christmas since 2008, and viewership overall has been relatively consistent, averaging around 4.5 million to upwards of 6.3 million viewers, with most years falling in the 5.5 million range.
When the NFL began putting regular-season games on Christmas in 2021, the viewership changed.
In 2021, NBA Christmas viewership dipped to 4.1 million. 2022, viewership saw a slight increase to 4.3 million. In 2023, it dipped again to 2.9 million. Why the dip? The NFL Christmas games were on broadcast television. FOX, NBC and CBS both saw massive audiences driven to their respective holiday slates. The NBA needed Santa to deliver a gift worth giving in order to save the concept of NBA on Christmas.
Boom. The NBA got a Christmas miracle.
The NFL moved its games to Netflix as part of a three-year deal with the streaming platform, taking NFL on Christmas off broadcast television and shifting it behind a paywall. The NBA numbers were back to normal, with an average of 5.25 million people tuning in in 2024 and 5.5 million last year.
If you dive into the data, the numbers suggest the NBA should stick with Christmas as long as NFL football remains on a streaming platform rather than fully on broadcast television. Broadcast still holds tremendous power with the viewing audience and the average sports fan. These viewership figures are proof of that power. The minute the competitor goes behind a paywall, broadcast still delivers.
Sorry, Pat
That’s why, when Pat McAfee offered a potential solution for the NBA to shift away from Christmas on Tuesday, the notion was laughable.
The NBA has been a proven source of entertainment on the holiday for decades. For nearly 60 years, families have counted on the sport of basketball to be easily and readily available, with the stars of the game always shining on the annual holiday. McAfee’s suggestion to shift the NBA to Christmas Eve doesn’t benefit the league in any way.
Think of your own situation as an example. Christmas Eve is the last-minute shopping, wrapping, planning, cooking and holiday preparation before the big day. Placing five NBA games on a day when attention is already spoken for in so many other areas would not be a net positive.
The NFL is powerful enough to change the way sports fans consume Christmas Day. It is not powerful enough to make the NBA abandon it. That distinction matters.
The NBA doesn’t own Christmas Day because it has exclusive rights to the holiday. It owns it because, for nearly 60 years, it has built a viewing habit that fans recognize and anticipate. The moment the calendar turns to December, we know what is coming: family, food, gifts and NBA basketball. That consistency is worth protecting.
Christmas Day is different from Christmas Eve. The day before Christmas is filled with distractions. There are gifts to wrap, food to prepare, last-minute shopping to finish and a seemingly endless list of things demanding attention. Christmas Day is when much of that work is finished. The presents are open. The meal is being prepared or already eaten. The family is gathered. And, for millions of people, there is time to sit down and watch sports.
A Lasting Tradition
The NFL can put three games on the schedule and dominate the conversation. It can command enormous audiences mainly on streaming platforms and continue to expand its presence on the holiday. But that doesn’t mean the NBA should surrender the one piece of the Christmas sports tradition it has spent generations building.
The NFL took its place on Christmas Day, it hasn’t earned it. The NBA has already earned its place on Christmas. The answer isn’t to move the NBA away from Christmas and hope fans can find the time. The answer is to keep giving them something they have already made time for.
Because when it comes to Christmas Day, the NBA doesn’t need to beat the NFL. It simply needs to remain part of Christmas.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.