ESPN Employee Defends NBA After Decades-Long NFL Rivalry Triggers Fan Debate

Sports fans love to argue over several things. While the most common arguments are between either teams or players, a new debate has emerged over the years. The NBA v NFL battle, to determine which is the bigger league in the world of sports. Recently, NBA veteran and ESPN Analyst, Richard Jefferson, added his take to the conversation.

Now it is almost impossible to get everyone on the same page, but that has never stopped fans from continuing this decades-old debate. As for Richardson, he has a clear take on where the NBA stands when compared to the NFL.

Richard Jefferson backs the NBA as the more popular league

There is no doubt that the NFL is more popular in America. The Super Bowl is ranked among the most viewed sporting events in the world. However, that doesn’t tell the full story, nor does it cater to the argument online. Recently, an NBA fan posted screenshots of the NFL and the NBA’s Instagram pages, showing the number of followers the leagues have. The NBA outnumbers the NFL by a huge margin. The fan captioned the post “The NFL is more popular than the NBA” mocking the NFL fans.

While the fans continued to go back and forth in that argument, Jefferson stepped in to provide a more nuanced take on it. The ESPN Analyst posted “There is a big world outside of US. BASKETBALL IS A GLOBAL SPORT.”

Jefferson is spot on with his analysis on the matter because even though the NBA is not the most popular sport in the country, the international popularity of the league outnumbers the NFL by some distance. In the last few years, the NFL has been trying to cater to a more international audience, and they have been using social media as a tool for the same.

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Regardless, the NBA has a much bigger lead on it, as basketball has been a global sport for a long time now.

Sports fans and their take on the debate

Similar to any other debate, this one is not going to reach any conclusion as well. But that is what makes a sport special, the dedication from fans and the barber shop debates. When it comes to picking between the two leagues, the room is split in half on X as well.

One fan said that using the number of followers in an argument is not valid:

Another fan said that the NBA is indeed a more popular league:

One fan stated that there is no competition here because the NBA is watched globally:

One Wolves fan said that the NBA also has some global superstars, something that the NFL lacks:

One fan stated that the arguments on Twitter (Now X) shouldn’t be taken seriously as it doesn’t represent the real world:

Seems like there’s no end to this conversation anytime soon. However, it is refreshing to see an NBA veteran like Jefferson standing up for the league in social media arguments.

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