Christmas Day sports is no longer about the NBA, as the NFL already dominated the basketball league and is not the most watched sport on Christmas Day. With that, Outkick host Jonathan Hutton believes that the football league has already “planted their flash” and LeBron James’ claim is easily discredited by the viewership numbers.
In one of the recent episodes from the Outkick channel, host Jonathan Hutton discussed LeBron James’ statement claiming that Christmas is “ours”, but the NFL has easily dominated them in terms of viewership.
“This is LeBron saying that on behalf of the association,” he said about LeBron’s statement. “Not any longer, man. That’s gone by the wayside. The NFL has jumped in and they have planted their flag on not just [the] national holiday but across the planet. A lot of countries recognize Christmas and celebrate that with a national holiday and it’s going to be the national pastime [with] the NFL reaching that audience.”
Hutton added: “Across the country, they own the audience of sports fans, not the National Basketball Association.”
For their Christmas Day games, the NBA had an average viewership of 5.25 million per game, while the NFL recorded more than 24 million viewers per game. The NBA peaked during the Lakers vs Warriors game with 8.32 million viewers, while the NFL had 27 million viewers during the Raves vs Texas game halftime show featuring Mariah Carey and Beyoncé.
Overall, the NBA Christmas Day games garnered a total of 26.5 million viewers across five games played that day, while the NFL had a total of 65 million viewers across two games played.
Outkick Host on Micheal Jordan vs LeBron James: “When Lebron Played, I Don’t Care”
Outkick host Jonathan Hutton also expressed how the way NBA games are played made him lose interest in watching basketball, particularly losing interest in LeBron James.
“LeBron, at the end of his career, what he’s doing can be really good for a guy of his age and the greatest player other than Michael Jordan,” he said about the topic. “But when Michael Jordan was playing, I cared and when LeBron’s playing right now, I don’t. That’s unfortunate because I want to be invested in basketball, but right now it’s just college basketball or bust.
He added: “And it’s a bust for the NBA on Christmas Day because the NFL’s there and they’re owning it with a good product.”
LeBron James is currently the oldest active NBA player around, and just turned 40 last December 30.
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