Charles Barkley is furious that the NFL is trying to steal Christmas from the NBA.
Christmas Day is traditionally an important focal point for the NBA, starting at noon every December 25; this year the Knicks tipped off at the Garden against the Cavaliers.
The NFL traditionally only played on Christmas if it complied with the league’s regular schedule. But since 2020, the league has hosted at least one match every Christmas. And despite Christmas falling on a Wednesday last year, the NFL played a doubleheader on Netflix, which pays $150 million a year to get a pair of Christmas games as part of a three-year deal.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We used to have this day to ourselves, but Roger Goodell and those pigs at the NFL now always want to be pigs every day of the week,” Barkley said Thursday during “NBA Tipoff” on ESPN. “Christmas is an NBA day.”
This year marks the 78th year that the NBA has hosted games on Christmas, a day that usually features some of the league’s best teams and biggest stars.
The rest of this year’s NBA Christmas slate includes reigning champion Thunder hosting Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs; Steph Curry’s Warriors host the Mavericks, who have No. 1 Cooper Flagg; LeBron James’ Lakers host Kevin Durant’s Rockets and Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets host the Timberwolves.
The NFL’s Christmas schedule this year was undermined by injuries.
The eliminated Cowboys will play the Commanders, who are missing starting quarterback Jayden Daniels, and third-stringer Josh Johnson. The Vikings start undrafted rookie Max Brosmer at QB against the Lions, and the eliminated Chiefs face the Broncos with a third stringer, Chris Oladokun, under center after a season-ending injury to Patrick Mahomes.
The third game, Chiefs-Broncos, will air on Amazon’s Prime Video as part of the usual “Thursday Night Football” coverage.
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