The NFL’s decision to take over Christmas Day seems to have paid off.
The NFL’s Christmas Day games drew massive ratings Monday, the networks announced. The Las Vegas Raiders’ upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs to open the three-game slate drew an average audience of more than 29 million viewers on CBS — which made it the most-watched Christmas Day game in 34 years.
Then the night game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens was the second-most-watched “Monday Night Football” game in the last 27 years. More than 27 million people tuned in on ESPN and ABC to watch the Ravens beat the 49ers, which trailed only the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles matchup on “Monday Night Football” earlier this season.
Fox has yet to release its viewership numbers from Monday’s afternoon game between the Eagles and the New York Giants.
Christmas has traditionally been a holiday that the NBA dominates. The league had five marquee matchups on Monday, starting with the Milwaukee Bucks falling to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and ending with the Dallas Mavericks beating the Suns in Phoenix. But since Christmas fell on a Monday this year, the NFL decided to jump in.
Based on how this year went and what the calendar looks like in the coming years, it’s hard to see the NFL not returning to Christmas Day in the future. While Christmas falls on a Wednesday next year — and the NFL told Front Office Sports last week that it wasn’t likely to play any games on that day — the holiday will take place on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday in the four following years. Those are all days that the NFL traditionally plays on, now that its Black Friday game is a thing.
Since fans seemed to love the decision, and it’d be easy to keep going, it wouldn’t be surprising to see both the NFL and NBA competing on Christmas next December.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
