Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

NFL dominates Christmas TV ratings even with uninspiring matchups

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/29/22

The NFL is still the undisputed king in the American sports landscape, and Christmas Day just proved that a little bit more.

Even though the Christmas Day slate of games was three relatively uninspiring matchups that turned out to be lousy games, the league still mopped the floor with the NBA when it came to viewership.

Christmas Day has typically been the NBA's day to shine with 12 hours of games, but it was no match for the NFL with the holiday falling on a Sunday (the NFL's day of the week) this year.

The numbers are staggering.

NFL and NBA viewership numbers from the Christmas games:

NFL:
- Packers-Dolphins: 25.92M
- Broncos-Rams: 22.57M
- Bucs-Cardinals: 17.15M

NBA:
- 76ers-Knicks: 4.04M
- Lakers-Mavericks: 4.33M
- Bucks-Celtics: 6.03M
- Grizzlies-Warriors: 4.70M
- Suns-Nuggets: 2.49M
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 28, 2022

Only one of those games (Miami-Green Bay) featured two potential playoff teams, while the Dolphins entered the week as the only team on the schedule with a winning record. That game drew nearly 26 million viewers.

Most stunning of all, though, was the Broncos-Rams game in the 4:25 time slot.

That game was the biggest dud of the three, not only in terms of the matchup (they are two of the worst teams in the NFL this season) but it also turned out to be a dud of a game with the Rams rolling to a 51-14 laugher over the Broncos. It proved to be the final straw for Nathaniel Hackett as the Broncos' head coach.

That game drew 22.5 million viewers, nearly five times the highest-watched NBA game on Christmas, which was a matchup of the past two Eastern Conference representatives in the NBA Finals.

Even the Tampa Bay-Arizona game, which turned out to be the worst game of the day in terms of quality of play, drew over 17 million viewers in the 8:20 time slot.

All of these numbers show us a couple of things. The NFL is, again, the king. People will watch any NFL game as long as it is on TV, and as long as it is remotely possible, you can be sure the NFL is going to put as many games as possible on Christmas Day.

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