The NBA vs. NFL Xmas Battle Is Really Dumb
...But I Approve Anyway.
Christmastime is a fun one for me. While not my favorite holiday per se (still Top 5 though), I am down for all of the elements that make the holiday special. You know the stuff: bright colors, overeating, and being with family. And when you need some time between rounds of food or need something to point your attention to when there are lulls in the conversations with the crazier members of family, you could always turn to sports.
Much has been made about the NBA vs. NFL “battle” that happens on Christmas these days. The TLDR of it is this: While the NBA season officially starts in October, Christmas Day was kind of the unofficial benchmark fans and pundits would use to gauge if a team was good or not. Over time, Christmas Day evolved into an ‘NBA Holiday.’ If you were a basketball, nay, sports fan, you tuned in on December 25th (I have to mention this because I’m learning more and more people in my social network do the whole December 24th thing), for a full day of rounbdall. The National Football League, the current and reigning ‘National Pastime’, started having football games on Christmas starting in 2020 (give or take some games in the 70s). Boom, a new sports rivalry was born.
Suddenly, there were think pieces about how the NFL just went up and took food off of the NBA’s plate. This, coupled with the NFL’s growth and the NBA’s stagnation in viewership and you have the perfect recipe for lame sports blogs to compare the two and what it means for sports every December.
Present blog excluded, of course.
But really, there isn’t a comparison. The NBA was the regional department store at the mall, while the NFL opened up the Walmart with online ordering plus in-store pickup right across the street. It’s game over, man. You think Beyoncé is going to waste her time singing for the Indiana Pacers?
Netflix was a big part of this NFL-dominant wave. They (Netflix) want to do sports, but they want to focus on choice, marquee events. Remember when Jake Paul fought Mike Tyson, and Netflix made you wait four hours to see how old Mike Tyson was? “Dat’s Nefflex, baby!” They are paying $150 million per year over three seasons for the Yuletide games, so best believe Lebron n’ them are going to be marketing collateral damage. And if you’re wondering, Snoop Dogg is headlining this year’s jaunt:
Yeah, sure whatever. That makes sense, I guess.
Though I have to say I do like the holiday remix of “Drop it Like It’s Hot” they used as the theme there. (I wonder if people under the age of 20 know that Snoop Dogg is a rapper, however)
And when it comes down to it, basketball fans are going to watch basketball, and football fans are going to watch football. So this whole Christmas Day discourse is really for the casuals and the people who don’t want to watch holiday Hallmark Movies anyway. (Though, if you’re up for it, AP has a handy-dandy guide on what games they recommend seeing or skipping if you’re interested.)
But rising tides raises all ships and the NBA will clap back with an (checks notes) animated basketball game featuring Disney characters called “Dunk The Halls…”
Now that’s counterprogramming.
Christmas Day is a lot of things to a lot of people. And the fact that nowadays you have choice on how to celebrate your halftime shows are ultimately a good thing. When the MLS starts having winter games in 2027, I hope they do a Christmas game as well, (or at least a Nochebuena one). As for me, I probably fire up some sports video games, as per my tradition. Happy Holidays, everyone!