LeBron James has long proclaimed himself a fan of the NFL, once upon time playing along with the fun myth that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones once offered a real NFL contract to the NBA superstar.
More recently, though – this past Christmas Day – he tried to put his foot down.
The Los Angeles Lakers icon proclaimed his continuing football fandom while also boldly stating that Christmas Day is the NBA’s day – and that the NFL schedule shouldn’t be butting in.
Fans of the NFL and the NBA told him he’s wrong. And now he’s admitting just that.
Consider this a brutal reality check for basketball after the NFL’s Christmas Day viewing numbers crushed those of the NBA: The NFL and Nielsen are reporting that 65 million U.S. viewers tuned in for at least one minute of one of the two NFL games, with the Ravens’ 31-2 victory over the Texans (featuring Beyoncé’s halftime show) averaging 24.3 million viewers while Kansas City’s 29-10 win at Pittsburgh averaged 24.1 million according to early viewer figures released by Nielsen on Thursday.
Meanwhile, The NBA’s five-game schedule – featuring LeBron’s Lakers topping Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors – averaged about 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN and its platforms, according to the league and Nielsen.
And now the concessions speech.
“I saw the (expletive) numbers after the fact, you guys kicked our (expletive),” James told Jason and Travis Kelce on the Wednesday episode of their podcast “New Heights.”From a viewership standpoint, y’all kicked our (expletive). The games weren’t as great as they should have been.”
James gets it mostly right here … except for that last part.
It has nothing to do with “the games” themselves. It’s about the NFL vs. the NBA. And while we love both … America loves one much, much more.
