13 hours Ago By Joshua Mbu
LeBron James has told the NFL that Christmas Day is NBA day after the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens won their games in Netflix 's football debut. The NBA 's ratings have long been in decline. The league faces the harsh reality of losing three future Hall of Famers one after the other shortly when James , Steph Curry , and Kevin Durant call it a day on their professional playing careers.
Christmas Day has predominantly been the NBA's day with the league traditionally preparing a special slate of games for December 25. Still, the NFL and Netflix decided to rival them by putting the defending champions – the Kansas City Chiefs – against the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Super Bowl hopefuls – the Baltimore Ravens – against the Houston Texans on Christmas Day this year. It was Netflix's first NFL broadcast, reaching over 200 countries.
The company will return tens of millions of viewers on its $150 million Christmas Day investment. Nonetheless, NBA superstar James has issued a hands-off warning to the NFL over Christmas Day broadcasting slots. Jimmy Butler makes Miami Heat future decision after weeks of NBA trade rumors NBA already knows its LeBron James and Steph Curry successors ahead of Christmas Day games James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Curry of the Golden State Warriors put on a clinic on Wednesday night, scoring over 30 points each.
In the end, James' Lakers won the close Western Conference affair 115-113. The Lakers vs. the Warriors had a nail-biting finish, while the Chiefs and the Ravens convincingly won their matchups.
"Merry Christmas to my family back home — I'm coming home. And I love the NFL. I love the NFL.
But Christmas is our day," James said on ESPN before heading to the locker room. Unfortunately for James, the NBA will have to compete with the NFL for another two seasons in 2025 and 2026 after the football league signed a three-season deal with Netflix. Despite Houston losing, the streaming giants and the Texans also put on a memorable half-time show by putting on a concert involving Beyonce, Post Malone, and Shaboozey.
Netflix began airing live sports last year, but they were exhibition events in golf and tennis. However, this year saw Netflix carry Mike Tyson's return to professional boxing against social media sensation Jake Paul. From Jan.
6, Netflix will also be the official house for WWE's Raw. “Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer, said in a statement. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts.
We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”.
