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NFL games on Christmas Day are a relatively new phenomenon.
Usually, the NFL owns Thanksgiving Day outside of games played on Sundays and Mondays. But this year, the NFL partnered with Netflix to host two games during the day and one game on Amazon Prime Video in the evening. The games will take on the NBA, which has owned the holidays on television for several years.
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Charles Barkley stands in the second tee during the first round of the U.S. Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 11, 2025 in Stateline, Nevada. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
The NFL’s encroachment on the NBA appears to irritate Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We had that day to ourselves, but Roger Goodell and the NFL pigs still want to monopolize every day of the week now,” Barkley said on ESPN as the NBA schedule began. “Christmas is an NBA day.”
Barkley previously criticized the NFL in January 2024 for hosting an exclusive Peacock game during the playoffs.
Charles Barkley stands in the second tee during the first round of the U.S. Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 11, 2025 in Stateline, Nevada. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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He said at the time that streaming a playoff game was “low class.”
“It’s not cool, they’re just greedy pigs,” he said on ESPN Radio at the time. “I’m glad some NFL players are taking shots at them…I know the NFL is the most important thing in the world, but putting this game on Peacock and forcing people to buy Peacock is just low-end. I’m disgusted.”
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The NFL’s dominance of the sports debate will only grow if the league and players agree to an 18th game. The idea had been floated in recent years with the possibility of the Super Bowl being moved to Presidents Day.
