Despite ESPN’s best hopes and efforts, the NBA will not replace the NFL as “America’s Sport.”
Proof of that arrives to us via the numbers from last weekend’s Lions-Steelers preseason game (yes, a preseason game), in which the glorified scrimmage between the two NFL teams averaged more viewers than all five of the games the NBA showcased during their 2021 Christmas Day extravaganza, Pro Football Talk reports.
According to CBS, the Sunday afternoon broadcast of Lions-Steelers averaged 5.821 million viewers.
Jaylen Warren #30 of the Pittsburgh Steelers carries the ball in front of James Houston #59 of the Detroit Lions during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium on August 28, 2022, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
To put that in perspective, PFT fetched the numbers from the NBA’s 5-game Christmas Day programming in 2021, and here’s what they found.
“Hawks-Knicks at noon ET? 2.924 million average viewers,” PFT’s Mike Florio wrote. “Celtics-Bucks at 2:29 p.m. ET drew 4.933 million. Warriors-Suns, with a 5:13 p.m. ET tip, got 5.189 million. Nets-Lakers, starting at 8:00 p.m. ET, had 5.753 million. Finally, Mavs-Jazz did 1.519 million.”
A couple of points need to be stressed: First, the NFL preseason, especially the third preseason game, is a glorified scrimmage with no importance attached to it. In contrast, next to the NBA Playoffs, Christmas Day is the most important day on the NBA calendar. What’s also noteworthy is that even a matchup between LeBron James’ Lakers and James Harden’s Nets (the two biggest stars in the game) didn’t beat out the Lions-Steelers.
Patty Mills #8 of the Brooklyn Nets guards LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the game at Crypto.com Arena on December 25, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Perhaps the NBA was hurt by the NFL playing regular season games on Christmas, as Florio suggests. Though, is there ever really an excuse for a meaningful game with some of your biggest superstars getting beaten out by a practice game in another league?
It was once a delightful trend for ESPN reporters to forecast the NBA’s rise and the corresponding demise of the NFL. Well, that ain’t happening.
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