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With Travis Kelce Facing the Raiders, Jason Kelce Alleges ‘NFL Has Been Encroaching on Christmas’

Published 12/24/2023, 8:49 AM EST

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There was a time when the NBA used to rule on Christmas Day. But last year, the NBA’s five-game schedule averaged 4.34 million viewers. This was much less in comparison to the NFL’s three-game lineup, which boasted an impressive average of 21.9 million viewers. This year, the gap may widen further as the NFL offers fans a substantial gift with three enticing Christmas Day matchups, and with piquant news like Travis Kelce facing off against the Raiders, viewership will be bursting at the seams.

All of them are featuring Super Bowl contenders. The Kansas City Chiefs face the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Philadelphia Eagles take on the New York Giants in the day’s first two windows. So both brothers Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce will be busy with work this Christmas. But who owns Christmas? The NFL or the NBA?

Jason Kelce believes the NFL is intruding on the NBA’s Christmas tradition

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Last year, the largest viewership, a staggering 25.9 million, was witnessed during the Green Bay Packers‘ clash with the Dolphins. These numbers were more than any of the NBA games last Christmas. However, the Eagles center Jason Kelce believes that the Christmas games are not really the ideal domain for the NFL, and it belongs to the NBA. Recently, on his podcast ‘New Heights’, Kelce had some fresh insights about the debate among the fans.

He remarked, “The NFL has been encroaching on Christmas for some time now. A matter of fact, it is up for debate, who owns Christmas? The NFL or the NBA?” Travis Kelce was intrigued by the question, and stated, “I’m gonna have to give that one to NBA.”

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Jason Kelce also agreed with his younger brother and also mentioned that the NFL was trying to snatch the holiday magic from the NBA due to prime-time matchups and big guns facing off against each other. However, Christmas Day games have been a tradition for the NBA since 1947 when the New York Knicks triumphed over the Providence Steamrollers, 89-75, at Madison Square Garden.

 

Further, Travis Kelce talked about how enthralling games like the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens would definitely attract a lot of fans, and that, too, on a special day. But both brothers believed that the NBA should own Christmas ideally. Then what about football?

What holiday is owned by the NFL, as per the Kelce brothers?

The NFL is known to be the star sport during the holiday seasons. However, there has to be one such day that must feel like the ideal day for an NFL match, right? That’s what the Kelce brothers discussed further in their podcast, and finalized the holiday that remains special for every NFL fan as well as the players.

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Jason Kelce said, “I think it’s Thanksgiving. Even though I’d much rather be at Thanksgiving, that’s a holiday I think of when I think of playing football.” As for Travis, he always connects the holiday to his younger days, when he would rather play a backyard football game himself as opposed to watching it on the TV. But he also agreed that it’s the best holiday to have a football match.

In fact, the NFL has a tradition of playing football on Thanksgiving. This dates back to 1934 when the Detroit Spartans hosted the World Champion Chicago Bears.

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The Kelce brothers further gave honorable mentions to the Halloween football games, and Jason even ended the discussion by saying that the Christmas games are quite “cool” too. However, they are firm about the NBA owning that holiday. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments section.

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Written by:

Ishika

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Edited by:

Himanshu Sridhar