NFL Teams, With Backup QBs, Draw More Than 3x Viewership for Christmas Games Than NBA

The NFL Christmas Day games averaged 22.5 million viewers as compared to NBA's 5.5 million in 2025.

NFL Teams, With Backup QBs, Draw More Than 3x Viewership for Christmas Games Than NBA

Dak Prescott and LeBron James (image via IMAGO)

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America loves football. The NFL delivered staggering viewership numbers for the 2025 Christmas games, leaving the NBA in the shadows.

Former and current NBA players weren’t happy with the NFL’s attempt to hijack basketball’s limelight. The NBA ruled the holiday schedule for years, garnering jaw-dropping numbers each year. Fans still tune in to watch LeBron James, Luka Dončić, or Victor Wembanyama, but interest in the sport has steadily declined over the past decade.

OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, DAZN, and Paramount+ have revolutionized sports streaming, reshaping how audiences access and enjoy events both nationally and globally. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL committee took advantage of the opportunity by expanding the league schedule to include Thursday Night and Saturday Night games, rather than limiting football to just Sundays and Mondays.

Goodell also tapped into the holiday schedule as part of the NFL’s plans to achieve global status. For the longest time, Thanksgiving had been the only main holiday that featured football games. Gradually, Christmas became part of it.

The basketball community wasn’t too happy about the NFL taking over Christmas. Charles Barkley, who played for the 76ers, Suns, and Rockets, directed his anger toward Goodell for slowly devouring the NBA’s viewership.

The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We used to have this day to ourself but Roger Goodell and them pigs at the NFL always want to hog every day of the week now… Christmas is an NBA day.

Charles Barkley said

The NFL pips the NBA on Christmas viewership

Barkley wasn’t the only prominent name to call out the NFL for allegedly stealing the NBA’s audience. Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James boldly announced that Christmas belongs to basketball.

NFL Teams, With Backup QBs, Draw More Than 3x Viewership for Christmas Games Than NBA
Patrick Mahomes (Image via IMAGO)

James affirmed in 2024 that Christmas is the NBA’s day.

I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.

The numbers tell a different story. Similar to last year, the NFL reigned supreme on Christmas. Three games took place on December 25th, including an early kickoff between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders, which averaged 19.9 million on Netflix. However, viewership surged for the late afternoon game between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings, averaging 27.5 million and peaking at 30 million viewers.

Over on Amazon Prime Video, the matchup between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs averaged 21.06 million viewers on Amazon, setting a regular-season record for the NFL on that platform. According to Front Office Sports, it trumped the previous viewership record of 19.4 million set earlier in the month for a Cowboys-Lions game on Thursday Night Football.

The NBA triple header (Cavaliers-Knicks, Spurs-Thunder, and Mavericks-Warriors) averaged just over 5.5 million viewers, with the Spurs game reaching a peak of 6.7 million viewers on Disney-owned platforms (ESPN and ABC).

Clearly, the NFL won the bragging rights for the second year in a row. However, there’s still hope for basketball’s most premier league in the world. FOS reported that the league’s viewership was up 4% compared to 2024 and could rise further in the future.

However, there’s a silver lining to all of this. The three NFL games carried far less significance than those of their competitors. Aside from the Broncos and Lions, who were eliminated on Christmas, the Cowboys, Vikings, Commanders, and Chiefs had already been eliminated from the playoffs. Moreover, Patrick Mahomes and Jayden Daniels did not play because of injury. Despite the circumstances, fans preferred to watch football with their family over basketball.

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