The NFL and its streaming partner, Netflix, are thrilled with their takeover of Christmas Day sports programming. NBA analyst Charles Barkley? Not so much.
Last year’s debut of two NFL games on Netflix on Christmas Day ended the NBA’s long-running monopoly on Christmas Day sports. After Thursday’s slate of NBA action, Barkley made his displeasure with this recent development known.
“I mean, it is tremendous because you got five games,” Barkley said. “There’s nobody else playing. You know, the NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We used to have this day to ourselves, but [NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell] and them pigs at the NFL always wanna hog every day of the week now.”
“I saw those guys yesterday on ESPN talk about it, and they’re right,” he continued. “Christmas is an NBA day! That is it!”
Despite the passion in Barkley’s rant, the reality of the situation is unlikely to change. While the numbers for this year’s games have not yet been released, in 2024, over 65 million people watched NFL Christmas Day action on Netflix, more than all NBA games that same day combined.
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