Media

NBA Passes on Thanksgiving Games, Eyes Black Friday Spotlight

For most of its history, the NBA has fluctuated between playing games on Thanksgiving—but it hasn’t played a game since 2010.

By Colin Salao

Nov 26, 2024 | 04:55 pm

David Butler II-Imagn Images

Thanksgiving is a day associated with family, food, and football. It seems as though the NBA understands that—because it’s unlikely the league is going to add a Thanksgiving slate anytime soon.

Sources tell Front Office Sports the NBA is not expected to schedule any games on Thanksgiving, at least for the duration of its 11-year, media-rights deal that starts next season.

The NBA had consistently aired games on Thanksgiving before 1982, then once again from 1994 to 2006. After briefly returning from 2008 to 2010, the NBA once again abandoned Thanksgiving games since the lockout season in 2011–2012. In the league’s last three collective bargaining agreements, the section “Holidays” cites rules for playing on Christmas, New Year, and Good Friday—but not Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a difficult day for the NBA to attract viewership because it would be competing with the NFL. The league is already feeling the effects of going head-to-head with the NFL as seen by the drop in its Christmas Day viewership, which has been cannibalized since the NFL’s decision to add games on the holiday. However, the NBA doesn’t seem interested in infiltrating Thanksgiving Day, which is owned by an NFL tripleheader.

The focus of the NBA, together with Amazon, a new partner in the league’s next media deal, is to turn Black Friday into a day for both basketball and football. The day normally associated with going to malls to rummage through sales has instead become an online shopping bonanza for many, which means many stay in the comfort of their own homes—and are probably on Amazon.

In 2023, the NFL aired its first Black Friday game—which drew fewer than 10 million viewers—but could rise this year with the Chiefs on the card. The NFL cannot air games on Friday nights past 6 p.m. ET due to an antitrust exemption, so the Black Friday start time is at 3 p.m. ET, giving ample time for the NBA to slip in one to two games on the card. The NBA is expected to have at least one Black Friday game starting in 2025.