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Charles Barkley opened ESPN’s NBA Christmas Day coverage with a direct shot at the NFL.
The NBA Hall of Famer called out the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell for continuing to schedule multiple regular-season games on Christmas Day, a holiday normally reserved for the NBA.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. 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,” Barkley said Thursday on Inside the NBA. “Christmas is an NBA day.”
It’s not the first time the NBA legend has accused Goodell and the NFL of greed. Barkley called the NFL “greedy pigs” in January 2024 ahead of the Divisional Round playoff game between the Chiefs and Dolphins, the first NFL playoff game streamed exclusively on Peacock.
The NFL scheduled three games on Christmas this year, the sixth straight year the league scheduled games on the holiday.
Historically, the NFL would only sporadically schedule games on Christmas, usually if the holiday fell on Sunday or Monday, days that normally have football games. Thanksgiving was the holiday more commonly associated with NFL games, and the NBA has not aired games on Thanksgiving since 2010.
Sources told Front Office Sports last year that the NBA does not plan to schedule Thanksgiving games in the near future.
Despite NFL competition, NBA viewership was strong on Christmas last year, when it was up 87% from the previous year. But the NFL continues to trump the NBA in terms of the number of viewers per game, even on Christmas.
The NBA did have the stronger lineup this year, with all but one team above .500 and most of its biggest names available. The NFL Christmas games featured five of six teams outside of the playoff picture.
Barkley does not limit his criticism to the NFL, as he’s also called out the NBA for its greed in the past. In July 2024, as the NBA was finalizing its new media deal with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC, Barkley described NBA players and owners as “greedy” for not considering fans in their decision.
The NBA added 75 national games under its new deal, but fans must now pay close to $1,000 per year if they want access to all the NBA’s different channels and streaming services.
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