The National Basketball Association took a drubbing in the TV ratings on Christmas Day as its games didn’t even pull in one quarter of the viewers the National Football League’s games earned.
The NBA is likely furious over the ratings because in years past, basketball was the big game on Christmas. But, even going back to the 1990s, whenever the NFL scheduled a game for Christmas Day, football won the ratings game, according to Sports Media Watch.
This year, the NFL scheduled three games for Christmas Day against the NBA’s five-game lineup, sports site AS.com noted.
Christmas did not used to be a football day. Before 2016, the NFL had only ever played 15 Christmas Day games in its entire history.
But between 2017 and 2022, the league has played nearly as many as before 2016 — 13.
In fact, 1989 was the first time the NFL ever scheduled a Christmas Day game.
By contrast, the NBA has played a series of Christmas Day games every year since it was founded in 1947.
But the numbers don’t lie. Americans are far more interested in the NFL than they are the NBA as their jingle bells are ringing.
The NFL brought tens of millions of eyeballs to their TVs and screens this year.
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The NFL’s first game for Christmas Day between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs averaged 29.171 million viewers on CBS and Nickelodeon.
It was the most-watched Christmas Day program in CBS history and was also “the highest-rated NFL game since 1989,” AS.com wrote.
Speaking of 1989, that former highest-rated game was the Bengals-Vikings game which averaged a 19.4 rating and 33.06 million viewers on ABC, Sports Media Watch added.
As to the other two pro football games, the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants on FOX earned 29 million viewers, while the San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens game on ESPN found itself with 27.1 million viewers, USA Today noted.
On the other hand, the woke NBA did not fare as well.
Not only did the NBA’s numbers come nowhere near the NFL’s, the pro basketball league even lost to its own 2022 ratings, which averaged 4.3 million, Sports Media Watch said.
For its five-game schedule, the NBA earned 2.49 million viewers for the New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks on ESPN. The Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors game on ESPN and ABC reached 4.1 million viewers. For the Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers on ESPN, 1.3 million viewers tuned in. The Phoenix Suns vs. Dallas Mavericks on ESPN got 1.47 million viewers. And the NBA’s best game of the day was the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics, which brought 5 million viewers to ESPN and ABC.
Clearly, the NFL was far and away the bigger draw for viewers on Christmas Day.
