Lakers News: LeBron James Admits NFL Owned NBA On Christmas Day
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LeBron James has been a fixture on Christmas Day NBA games and picked up another win this past holiday season over the Golden State Warriors in what ended up being a thrilling game.
James helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a win against the Warriors, though the rest of the Christmas Day slate was filled with playoff-level hoops. However, the NBA had to compete with the NFL who streamed two games on Netflix.
The NFL featured the Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers as well as the Baltimore Ravens against the Houston Texans. While neither game was very fun to watch, the NFL pulled in significant viewers and ratings that gave them a claim to Christmas Day.
James previously said Christmas belongs to the NBA, but in an appearance on New Heights with Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce, he admitted that the NFL dominated the league from a viewership standpoint:
“I saw the f—ing numbers after the fact, you guys kicked our ass. From a viewership standpoint, y’all kicked their ass. The games weren’t as great as they should have been…well you had f—ing Beyonce come out there. Pat Mahomes and Travis, you guys go there and kick Pittsburgh’s ass. When you go out there and you got your little brother and he maybe gets beat up one time and you’re like, ‘Hey, we didn’t lose that fight. We’re here, we’re stayin’ here.’ That’s how I felt, I had to stand up for the NBA.”
To James’ point, the Chiefs beat the Steelers 29-10 while the Ravens blew out the Texans 31-2. However, the competitive level of the games didn’t seem to matter to football fans who seemed eager to check out the games on Netflix, which streamed games for the first time ever.
The dip in NBA ratings has been a hot topic for years now, with people attributing it to the lack of parity or the focus on 3-point shooting versus post play. Whatever the reason is, it’s clear that the NBA doesn’t have as strong of a hold on marquee days like Christmas anymore.
James will only play so many more years, and once he retires the NBA could find it even more difficult to attract viewers once the holiday season comes around.
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