Christmas Day in America is usually reserved for the NBA.
However, with Christmas falling on the NFL’s traditional Sunday, there was no way to avoid a TV ratings conflict between the two leagues.
Well, the results are in, and the NFL absolutely destroyed the NBA in the competition for the country’s eyes.
Here are the numbers, via ProFootball Talk:
- Green Bay Packers–Miami Dolphins: 25.92 million viewers.
- Denver Broncos–Los Angeles Rams: 22.57 million viewers.
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers–Arizona Cardinals: 17.15 million viewers.
- Philadelphia 76ers–New York Knicks: 4.04 million viewers.
- Los Angeles Lakers–Dallas Mavericks: 4.33 million viewers.
- Milwaukee Bucks–Boston Celtics: 6.03 million viewers.
- Memphis Grizzlies–Golden State Warriors: 4.70 million viewers.
- Phoenix Suns–Denver Nuggets: 2.49 million viewers.
As PFT noted, these numbers show the NFL averaged 21.88 million viewers compared to the NBA’s 4.318 million viewers.
NFL insider Mike Florio predicted how future Christmas conflict would work for the league:
In 2023, it will be easy. Play a full slate of games on Sunday, December 24, and play three on Monday, December 25.
In 2024, it gets a little more complicated. Thanks to the leap year, Christmas nudges to Wednesday. How will the NFL manage the schedule to put games on a Wednesday? The best (and perhaps only) option would be to give the six Christmas teams the prior Sunday off, giving them a very late bye week — but giving them basically two half-byes, with a 10-day break and then an 11-day break.
In 2025, Christmas lands on Thursday, just like Thanksgiving. In 2026, Friday. In 2027, Saturday. In 2028, Monday.
Only time will tell if Florio’s vision becomes reality. The NFL will like its position in the meantime.
