Sorry, LeBron James. CBS host Nate Burleson says Christmas Day now belongs to the NFL.
The NBA long dominated sports TV on Christmas Day, airing up to five nationally broadcast games. But after only playing sporadically on the holiday for decades, the NFL began encroaching in 2022, playing its first Yuletide tripleheader.
Last year, the league streamed two Christmas games on Netflix. Moving forward, Commissioner Roger Goodell is promising a triple-header every season. With all due respect to King James, the NFL has supplanted the NBA on Christmas Day, according to Burleson.
“Bron: The NFL is king, football is king, you know that. You’re the king—so you know football is king,” he told Front Office Sports Today co-host Baker Machado.
Burleson was among the team of analysts and play-by-play announcers calling the Netflix Yuletide doubleheader. The Emmy Award–winning analyst got the chance to move over to the broadcast booth from the studio, calling the Chiefs-Steelers along with JJ Watt and Ian Eagle.
The two games (Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans) averaged 24.1 million and 24.3 million viewers, respectively, making them the most-streamed games in NFL history. Meanwhile, the NBA’s five-game slate of Christmas Day games (all simulcast on both ABC and ESPN) averaged 5.25 million viewers on Christmas this year—an 84% increase from the year before, but far below the NFL numbers.
Give James credit for his loyalty to The Association. After leading the Lakers to victory over the Warriors on Christmas, James himself brought up the NFL vs. NBA rivalry. “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day,” said James.
The proof is in the viewership numbers, Burleson said. On Christmas Day, viewers are now voting with their remotes for football over hoops.
“Look, the NBA has dominated Christmas for a long time. We want in on the action,” said Burleson, who cut his teeth on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football before landing high-profile studio gigs on The NFL Today and CBS Mornings as well as hosting the new Hollywood Squares.
