For many years, the NBA has served as a gathering place for families with a slate of Christmas Day games. It has become quite the tradition in sports. However, the NFL has recently begun to compete with the NBA on this day. Hall of Famer Charles Barkley recently criticized the NFL over its ‘greed’ in trying to copy the NBA, which had led to the resurfacing of LeBron James’ remarks on the situation.
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Historically, the NFL has avoided playing on Christmas Day. However, that changed in 2020. Over the past 6 seasons, the NFL has scheduled at least one game on Christmas. This season, they have three games which viewers can watch on either Netflix or Prime Video.
Of course, the decision to play on Christmas is a great business move and the NFL has reaped the benefits of providing football on the acclaimed holiday. However, Charles Barkley isn’t quite a fan of the NFL’s money-first approach.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA. “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 first Christmas Day NBA game took place in 1947, and the league hasn’t looked back. Every year since then, aside from the lockout-shortened 1998 season, basketball has always taken precedence on Christmas.
The Hall-of-Fame forward didn’t just call out the NFL but targeted the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Goodell’s business tactics have been called out on the main stage. LeBron James sang a similar tune last year following the Los Angeles Lakers’ electric victory over the Golden State Warriors.
“I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day,” James had said.
That Lakers-Warriors game was the most-watched regular-season game since 2019. Hopefully, NBA crushing the viewership charts continues this year as well. It’s only tradition, after all.
