“I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.” A hyped LeBron James made a bold claim after last night’s thrilling Lakers vs Warriors encounter. Obviously, he was referring to the NFL’s attempt at taking over Christmas Day as the league made its Netflix debut with two high-profile games. Unfortunately, LBJ’s mic drop moment and the NBA’s impressive holiday lineup were not enough to dominate the NFL’s new initiative.

Well, Adam Silver’s organization did a solid job of keeping the holiday tradition alive. The NBA produced arguably the most exciting Christmas Day games in recent years as it became their most-watched holiday lineup of the last five years.

With five matchups on the card, each game drew an average of 5.25 million viewers across multiple platforms. That’s an 84% hike from last year’s viewership!

Obviously, the highly anticipated LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry clash took the cake with the day’s highest average viewership of 7.7 million. Sure, part of it was because of the two legends’ global popularity. But the game also attracted an audience because of how thrilling it was. From Steph’s clutch threes to LBJ’s dominant 31 points to Austin Reaves’ last-second game winner, it was the perfect recipe for a historic Christmas Day game.

Meanwhile, the Knicks vs Spurs clash averaged 4.91 million viewers, the most for a Christmas Day opener in the last thirteen years. Surely, Victor Wembanyama and Mikal Bridges’ 40+ point duel had a lot to do with it. Apart from these games, Celtics vs Sixers averaged 5.1 million viewers, Wolves vs Mavs’ 4.3 million, and Nuggets vs Suns attracted the lowest audience of the day at 3.8 million.

Although these are much better numbers than previous years, they don’t even come close to what the NFL pulled off!

NFL dominates Christmas Day! Are the NBA’s holiday games in jeopardy?

Despite their bold move to shift to Netflix on a weekday, the NFL was able to attract an audience from more than 200 countries. Yes, surpassing the NBA’s numbers by a mile, the Chiefs vs Steelers encounter had a whopping 24.1 million viewers. And the Ravens vs Texans game surpassed that number, at 24.3 million.

Well, it’s clear which league came out on top this Christmas.

Obviously, the NFL did everything it could to give these games a Super Bowl feel as Beyonce starred in a blockbuster halftime show. Moreover, her performance even had cameos from Post Malone and Shaboozey. One thing is clear: Christmas Day NFL is here to stay!

That’s because the league has inked a three-year deal with Netflix to broadcast games on the holiday. And after seeing what a big success it was this year, that deal could extend even further.

Meanwhile, the NBA’s long-time claim of owning Christmas Day sports could slowly fade away if they don’t do something about it. The Steph vs LeBron matchup will not be there to rescue them every time, especially because both stars are closing in on retirement. And if the league is unable to up their ratings like they did this year, the NFL could take over this holiday very soon.

Maybe, the new media rights deal will help Silver solve this problem, thanks to their new partnership with Amazon Prime Video. Even the Commissioner talked about the league’s vision to move to streaming platforms in the coming years. Do you think it can help the NBA keep its Christmas Day tradition alive?