I said it years ago, and it still stands true: the NFL is a modern-day Rome with no end in sight.
On Christmas Day, the most-viewed NFL game of the day was the contest between the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, pulling in 25.92 million viewers, according to NFL analyst Ari Meirov. In comparison to the NBA’s highest-viewed game, which was between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, it was a blowout with basketball only pulling in a little over six million viewers.
NFL and NBA viewership numbers from the Christmas games:
NFL:
– Packers-Dolphins: 25.92M
– Broncos-Rams: 22.57M
– Bucs-Cardinals: 17.15MNBA:
– 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
As you see, even the NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals, which had the lowest ratings, still managed to pull in 17.15 million viewers, and it was a late game at that.
In comparison, the NBA’s late game between the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets tallied 2.49 million viewers.
Just absolute dominance by the National Football League, and I don’t think anybody is shocked whatsoever. (RELATED: Philadelphia Eagles’ Lane Johnson Puts Off Surgery In An Attempt To Play In The NFL Postseason)
The NFL has had a monopoly on the sports world for quite some time now, at least here in America. It doesn’t matter if it’s the NBA, MLB or NHL — the king here in the United States is the National Football League. So when you’re talking about worldwide in comparison, sure, soccer is still the king there, but the NFL really is a modern-day Rome here in the American sports realm.
The only difference — there’s no end in sight with this Rome.