The NFL has officially staked its claim to Christmas Day, and it’s not going anywhere.
The ratings have made that clear, but Roger Goodell’s announcement of a third game on December 25th — two on Netflix and one on Amazon — cements it. The league is positioning itself as synonymous with Christmas, as Thanksgiving Day, a title the NBA once held, but it might not for much longer.
Nate Burleson, part of Netflix’s broadcast team alongside Ian Eagle and J.J. Watt, echoed this sentiment. While Eagle and Watt will reunite as CBS Sports’ No. 2 team this fall, Burleson, a regular in the studio, made his mark in the booth this holiday. And he wasn’t shy about how the NFL is making its move on the holiday.
“Money talks and all the rest walks,” Burleson said on Front Office Sports Today. “Come on, now. Netflix and Amazon, let’s just keep it real. Let’s call it what it is. Look, the NBA has dominated Christmas for a long time; we want in on the action. And the NFL was like, ‘Alright, talk to me nice, or don’t talk to me twice. Come with the dollars, or I’m gonna let you deal with Christmas how you want to with the movies that you’re showing.’ And, listen, the dollar sign was right, but more importantly, all jokes aside, it was how they produced it up. They did a great job not just producing up the game, but also, the halftime shows were entertaining. And for the first time in a long time, I believe that the NFL has cemented its position on that day that was notoriously known as an NBA day.”
Burleson made sure to shout out LeBron James in the process. But he also made it clear that while LeBron may be the king of basketball, the NFL reigns supreme on Christmas Day.
“Bron, the NFL is king,” Burleson explained. “Football is king. You know that, you the king. So, you know football is king. This is how I knew the NFL has successfully replaced the NBA on Christmas Day. I was watching TV, waiting for some type of cool promo for the NBA, some guys shooting into the nets with the jingle bells, Santa Claus dribbling, something. There was nothing. They did not market Christmas Day. They did not go big like they used to. That’s because they realized the NFL is here; it’s here to stay.”
And so is Burleson.
“It’s an opportunity for me, one, to be in the booth,” he says. “You know, I’m in the studio most of the time for every show I’m on. So, I get to flex a different type of muscle, and it feels good to be on the field. I don’t oftentimes get to see the guys that I talk about because I’ve been in the studio for so long. So, it feels good to walk on the field in the pregame, and guys call ‘Unc’ and ‘Grandpa.’ I appreciate that.”
It’s safe to say the league has successfully muscled its way into a holiday once owned by the NBA.
And it’s here to stay.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.